Nevermore! What WAS in your wallet?

You never know who's watching. Readers please note that, while certainly not innocent, the raven in this picture was in no way implicated in the sordid tale that follows.

One day in the summer of 2000, while I was on duty working police/fire dispatch in Lunenburg, I received a call from a tourist who was at one of the waterfront restaurants wanting to report that his credit card had been snatched from his hand while he was seated by the rail on the restaurant's outside deck. He also reported that he still had the thief in sight. The tone of his voice sounded like a combination of concern and embarrassment, and as the conversation progressed, here's the story that came out.

For background, the caller and his wife were visiting from the US and had been eating lunch at the Dockside Restaurant. You enter the restaurant from the street and walk to the back that faces onto the harbour where the deck is located. The building sits on a hill so the deck is on the second floor at that side, overlooking the street that parallels the harbour. On the other side of the street is the parking lot for the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic.

A view of the crime scene. The culprit landed on the peak of the rightmost of the red buildings visible in this photo. The victims were seated on the deck of the white building to the right of that.

The couple had eaten their lunch, received the bill, and were waiting for the waitress to return so they could pay. The caller had pulled out his credit card (platinum) and was holding it between his index and middle fingers as he talked to his wife, apparently turning it back and forth. The sun was reflecting off the card and, unknown to our hero, it was attracting some unwanted attention from the perpetrator.

The couple were seated at a table near the railing closest to the street. Without warning, what he described as, "... the biggest fucking raven I've ever seen in my life", landed on the railing, fixed him with one eye in that way that only ravens can, plucked the credit card from between his fingers, gave him one more look, and flew off. It landed on the peak of one of the museum buildings where he could see the flash from the card as the raven enjoyed playing with its shiny new prize. As I was speaking to the complainant, the bird flew off out of sight, and I assisted him in cancelling the card.

Several pigeons were questioned as well as some crows, but the conclusion was reached that the raven was some hooligan from out of town. As of this date the credit card has not been recovered.