RICHMOND — Just weeks after dealing with goats that had climbed on top of a car, Richmond police are now investigating reports of a raven that has caused hundreds of dollars in damage to at least three cars.

Police Chief Scott MacMaster said two people went to the police station last week to report their vehicles had been attacked by the raven, which damaged rubber gaskets around windshields and windows and the windshield wipers on at least three cars on Alexander Reed Road and nearby Stable Road.

The reports come a month after a pair of goats climbed atop and damaged a car on Marston Road.

MacMaster said the first raven attack, in which a pickup truck was damaged on Alexandar Reed Road, was reported May 21. The owner said he had watched the raven land and see its reflection in the truck window. The bird caused approximately $500 in damage, according to the owner.

“The raven does its territorial strut as he described it and it starts attacking the reflection in the window and pulling off the rubber around the windows and his windshield wipers,” MacMaster said.

The next day a Stable Road resident reported that “a buzzard” had ripped the windshield wipers off his car. MacMaster said the buzzard was, in fact, a raven. “He had to bring his own car in to be fixed, and while he was having the repairs done, … it started attacking the rental car,” MacMaster said.

The second victim said he took an unpaid day off from work so he could conduct a stakeout to try to catch the bird in the act. When that failed, he went to the police.

MacMaster said officers inspected the rental car and found rubber missing from around the window and windshield and scratches on front.

MacMaster said the vehicle owners would be allowed to safely dispatch the nuisance bird, but he advised both to contact the Maine Warden Service as well.


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