Alaska shoppers complain of ravens stealing groceries in parking lot

Customers from a Costco store in South Anchorage, US are complaining about the raven birds sneaking in the parking lot and stealing their groceries and other food items, several victims of the birds’ burglary told sources of local Anchorage Daily News. Alaska resident Marnie Jones and her unsuspecting husband have been the latest in line of these robberies.

The former told the local broadcaster that she had bought a four-pack of filet mignon steak that she put right in the bottom of the cart and her husband was pushing the wheels through bumpy snowy roads. Even before the couple could make it to their 4-wheeler, a pack went missing. The Jones couple, however, were lucky to be able to safely unload the groceries in their car. Mr Jones was rendered shocked when he was noticed the steak was robbed, back at home as he sorted the vegetables.

Account of theft 'carefully plotted'

Many other customers at the Dimond Boulevard store have come forward with their account of theft carefully plotted by the pitch-black sharp-clawed birds. Another resident, Matt Lewallen, said that food thieving ravens in a “group” swooped in on him while he was transferring groceries in the car boot. The birds snatched a mini rib from his cart while he was perturbed about what to do. 

“I literally took 10 steps away and turned around, two ravens came down and instantly grabbed one out of the package, ripped it off, and flew off with it,” Lewallen said, his statement cited by AP. The strategically stolen piece was about 4-by-7 inches (10-by-18 centimeters) large, Lewallen informed, but the birds obviously had flown with it. They settled on the top roof of a building, he said.

“They know what they’re doing; it’s not their first time, they’re very fat so I think they’ve got a whole system there," victim of bird theft  Lewallen said.

The horrified customer also reported that the ravens had pecked out the other meat rib however, they did not rob it. “I cut that meat out and started marinating it and my wife said, ‘That’s gross, we should take it back,” Lewallen said. “Costco actually took it back even after we had started marinating them and gave us a full refund.”

A series of accounts about ravens spying on Costco customers then stealing from their carts have flooded social media. Shoppers felt that the rival birds are  “very dedicated to their mission.” A former Anchorage-area wildlife biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Rick Sinnott told a local outlet that the population of ravens has grown largely due to the waste garbage problem in the county. He added, the ravens preferred short ribs from Costco to half of a hamburger bun from McDonald’s. 

(Image Credit: AP)