Cosmo Comes Calling

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Cosmo Comes CallingIntroducing Cosmos. The talkative crow from Oregon.

Cosmo Comes Calling

Oregon State Police called in on a foul mouthed crow 

By D. S. Mitchell

Down State Noise
Normally, the goings on in Grant’s Pass, Oregon, never gain the attention of the big city folks of Portland, Seattle, or San Fran.   Last week however, we here on the west coast got a bit of a smile as we learned about the antics of a rogue, rough talking, four letter word tossing, crow.  You read that right.  A crow. As the story goes, out of the blue a friendly, albeit attention seeking crow, showed up in town.  According to reports the first place the crow was spotted was on top of the Planet Fitness building, where he would talk to people entering and exiting the facility. Drawing both laughter and a raised finger or two.
Moving On
Apparently dissatisfied with the Planet Fitness digs our talkative and colorfully articulate bird looked around for friendlier faces.  He seemed to find what he was looking for when he found the Allen Dale Elementary School in late November.  It didn’t take long before he was the resident mascot. The news became public when Naomi Imel, an assistant at the school called in the story to the Oregonian on 12/09/2021. Lizzie  Acker 503-221-8052, lacker@Oregonian.com was the featured reporter who followed up on the feathered friend story.

Loves The Kids
Imel reported that the bird wasn’t aggressive and seemed to love the children. It would look into classrooms, even going so far as to peck on doors to be let in. At one point, our feathered visitor made his way into a fifth grade classroom where he scarfed up some snacks that were spread out on a table. She went on to say, “It was the weirdest thing. It was like a parrot. The bird could say, ‘What’s up?’ ‘I’m fine’ ‘I’m okay’ and “a lot of swear words.” She added, “It landed on people’s heads.” Despite the bird’s friendly  demeanor crows are considered wild animals. The fact that the bird wouldn’t leave the school left officials no choice except to call animal control.
Things Get Interesting
“It was quite the production,” Imel said. “Animal control came out and decided it was not in their jurisdiction to catch the crow.” Next came a wildlife officer from Oregon State Police, “That officer was able to feed it from his hand.” She continued, “They didn’t want to net it because if they missed, it would remember.” According to Imel, the attempted capture of the talkative crow was of enough interest to cause all the grades to leave their classrooms to come out to watch the show. The crow seemed to enjoy the attention, playfully chasing kids around the track, she said. “We thought it would fly away but it didn’t. . . The kids were like magnets.” According to Imel,  the wildlife trooper spent the night of 11/29/2021 outside the school but despite his best efforts was unable to capture the crow.
The News 
That night, one of the Allen Dale students went home and started telling his father about the talking crow that had taken up residence at the school and how the bird police hadn’t been able to convince the bird to terminate residence. The father instantly knew what to do. In fact, he knew the bird personally and took action. He called the bird’s godparents, JaNeal Shattuck and her daughter, Daphnie Colpron and told them Cosmo had been found. They immediately agreed to be at the school the next morning to collect the loquacious  crow.
Who?
JaNeal Shattuck rescues animals. It turns out JaNeal rescued the crow about two years ago when it was a baby. She brought it from a shelter to the family’s farm in Williams, Oregon.  The farm is less than 30 miles from Grants Pass. Although, she named him Cosmo, he may in fact be a Connie.  Although Shattuck  considers Cosmo a free bird, she also has a close personal attachment to him and so when he disappeared during her absence over Thanksgiving holiday she was admittedly, “devastated. . . he’s like a person, not a bird.” At first, Shattuck was concerned that Cosmo had been killed. It seems that while some neighbors loved Cosmo as much as Shattuck and Colpron, not everyone was thrilled with the rough talking, in your face, bird.
Bad Neighbor
While the family was gone for Thanksgiving, the women said a neighbor captured the bird and took him to a local animal sanctuary. The sanctuary, not realizing he was “habituated to humans,” released him back into the wild, likely in or near Grants Pass. Once he was on his own Shattuck theorized that Cosmo  started looking for home; while in the process stirring up the small town.  Shattuck said, she knew in her heart “he was looking for me.” Shattuck described posting a notice on Facebook asking for help in finding him, but got no response.
No Surprise

The mother and daughter were not surprised to learn that Cosmo had moved into the elementary school. Apparently, Cosmo loves kids and is a regular at a day care center right down the lane from his home in Williams. “As soon as he found out what time the kids got there,” Shattuck said, “he’d go over there and hang out.” Despite their connection to Cosmo, “It took about 45 minutes of me offering sardines,” she said. She petted the bird and waited until his eyes were closed and then grabbed him. He’s now back on the farm in Williams and seems happy to be home. It has been noted that Cosmo is steering clear of a certain neighbor.

Lots of Words

Colpron told the press on Thursday, “His vocabulary has expanded quite a bit in the last few weeks,” an apparent reference to his several weeks on the rough and tumble streets of Grants Pass. The women consider Cosmo a member of the family and tell funny stories about their billed friend. According to their reporting, “He will get obnoxious,” but “he likes to tease people. . .and use profanity.” In the mornings “He will go right to my bedroom window and say, “Mom wake up, wake up!” Between giggles she continues, telling how Cosmo will order the family dog around, like he was the dog’s master, mimicking his, “dogs outside.”

Happy Ending

Happily Cosmo is free and back home, and the children of Allen Dale have a story to tell their grand kids, or anyone else, for that matter.

*Editor’s Note: The story of Cosmo the talking crow (or raven) and his adopted family is holiday sweet, however, Oregon State Police don’t want anyone getting the wrong idea from it. “We don’t want people making pets out of wild animals,” said OSP spokesperson Stephanie Bigman. “If they (Shattuck and Colpron) had contained this bird, it would have been a wildlife offense.”
**The image depicted IS NOT a picture of the real Cosmo, just a picture of a crow I found on Pixabay.

 

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