The pied crow the Oakland Zoo has been searching for since March 21 turned up on the porch of a California animal lover on Saturday.
According to the Oakland Zoo, Deauville escaped the California facility’s African Savanna aviary on Tuesday after destructive weather hit the park.
“During Tuesday’s severe storm, we had several trees fall on Zoo grounds. One of those trees fell onto our newest African Savanna aviary, damaging the mesh and tearing it. Fortunately, no animals were injured, and while most were quickly transported to our veterinary hospital, 6 birds flew through the torn opening and out into the Zoo,” the Oakland Zoo wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.
Three superb starlings, one hooded vulture, and two pied crows managed to get out of the aviary during the storm, Mister Truth reported. By Saturday, four of the birds were back in the Oakland Zoo’s care, and only the two crows, including Deauville, remained at large.
The Oakland Zoo is now only down one bird after Deauville turned up on the porch of an Oakland home. Thankfully, someone was inside the house, spotted the crow in the front yard, and recognized the bird as an escaped zoo animal.
“Today, an Oakland resident living a few miles from the Zoo spotted Deauville, one of our two last missing birds, a Pied Crow, in her front yard. She contacted the Zoo and two of our amazing keepers, Madison and Aeriell, quickly headed over – and were able to lure Deauville inside this kind resident’s home, where she was safely caught in a net and brought back to Oakland Zoo!” the California zoo shared on Facebook on Saturday, along with a clip of Deauville.
In the video, the pied crow stands on the porch of a house in front of a person trying to encourage the bird to go inside. After a few seconds of coaxing, Deauville steps in and disappears from the frame.
The Oakland Zoo is now searching for one more bird escapee while the institution also fixes the damage done to its African Savanna aviary.
“We have one last bird to recover, another Pied Crow, named Diego. If you spot him, please don’t try to catch him – he’s a very shy bird that startles easily – but DO call our rescue hotline (510-703-8986) normally used for our Heron Rescue efforts,” the Oakland Zoo wrote on Facebook.
Zoo officials added to Mister Truth that pied crows could be identified by their bright white “vests,” which set them apart from the all-black crows native to California.