Rare albino crow is a real hoot as a house guest

WILDLIFE fan John Dowding is a real bird brain.

And now his bird keeping hobby has taken flight after he got his very own adopted animal to crow about.

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   John with Polaris

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The dad-of-three, 45, has taken albino crow Polaris under his wing after it was found helpless in the wild.

Now the rare bird enjoys life at home in Hucclecote with John, his wife and kids.

John said: "A chap out at Monmouth had found it, and put it in a field, but it stayed there, it had an injured wing.

"He took it to a vet, who gave it an injection and said if it didn't work, he would get rid of it, but the man didn't want that so he called the International Birds of Prey Centre in Newent."

The centre, where John works, knew its employee was a crow fan, and soon Polaris had happily moved into one of his aviaries.

John said: "They can have problems in the wild due to the fact they're albino.

"He spends a lot of time in the house with us. He likes sitting on heads and shoulders, and just generally being around people.

"He's just got a really nice character."

John said he often has owls come to live at his home while he's training them, to get them used to him, so having another bird around is proving an absolute hoot.
http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/Rare-albino-crow-real-hoot-house-guest/story-16355182-detail/story.html