Winged villain strikes again: Crow steals knife from crime scene

'Canuck' the crow holds a knife in this photo from Facebook.

A crow nearly sabotaged a Vancouver police investigation earlier this week, and it's not the first time officers have been targeted by birds.

A police investigation was interrupted on Tuesday by a crow with an eye for shiny things – in this case, a knife.

Officers were in the area of Hastings and Cassiar streets on an unrelated call when they were directed to a parking lot car fire. Police said a man came at them with a knife as they were responding to the blaze, and the man was shot at in the altercation.

Few details have been released, other than that the 28-year-old suspect was taken into custody and brought to hospital with gunshot wounds.

While police were still at the scene, a curious crow flew down and picked up the knife, Const. Brian Montague told CTV News. The bird flew away, but dropped the knife while making its escape.

"It was eventually gathered as evidence (the knife – not the bird)," Montague said. Prior to the theft, the crow was caught casing the parking lot by CTV News cameras.

Police are blaming known "caw"nvict Canuck the Crow, often referred to as Vancouver's most notorious bird. The feathered felon is known to frequent East Van, and was named by its human friend, Shawn Bergman. Bergman told local media that the bird hangs around his home, in the Hastings and Cassiar area, ever since it was rescued and rehabilitated by his landlord's son.

The bird's crimes went viral when a biker posted a video of himself being attacked by Canuck as he attempted to cycle away.

Canuck's dastardly deeds are regularly posted on social media, including on the crow's own Facebook page and Twitter account. The crow also has its own hashtag, #canuckthecrow.

The winged villain has also been spotted by VPD attempting to sabotage a police cruiser.

Montague told CTV that it managed to steal the "F6" button and dismantle the keyboard of the on-board mobile data terminal before fleeing the scene.

The suspect has been described as approximately 17.5 inches long, with black feathers. At the time of the cruiser vandalism, it was wearing a red tracking leg band.

And there is reason to believe that Canuck isn't acting alone. Dozens of crow attacks have been reported across the city in the last few months.

Last month, Vancouver college instructors developed an interactive map that allows users to read up on local crow attacks and add their own experience.

The Langara College map lets bird watchers and ornithophobics check the details and date of each attack that has been plotted on the map.