A civil rights lawyer has appeared in the news more than once for saving crows and ravens. Catherine Sevcenko runs Diva Crows, which has been helping birds since 2012 in Alexandria, Virginia.
Recently, Sevcenko has been in the news for rehabilitating a rare white crow named Hope. A kind man in Manassas saw adult crows attacking the rare bird, which hadn’t yet grown enough to fly. From there, the Wildlife Rescue League of Falls Church took in the bird and contacted Sevcenko. Right away, she agreed to rehabilitate the “blonde beauty,” having never seen a white crow before.
Hope the White Crow
Sevcenko named the crow Hope since, like other white animals, they can be heralds or good omens of things to come. It’s much like the recent sighting of a white buffalo calf seen in Yellowstone and named Wakan Gli, or “Sacred Return” by Native American tribes.
Like the white buffalo calf, Hope doesn’t have albinism. Instead, a vet determined the crow is amelanistic, with caramel-colored primary feathers. And Hope’s eyes don’t appear red like a true albino. She’s a rarity the vet had never seen before, either.
“Unlike the red eyes of a true albino, a partially amelanistic bird will most likely have normal eye coloration due to normal melanin deposition in the eye,” states Point Blue Conservation Science.
A Hopeful Future For the Rare Crow
Given that Hope has bonded with humans and would face a difficult, solitary life in the wild, Hope is now destined for a wildlife education facility.
At Diva Crows, she has delighted the staff and enjoys being around people.
“She loves bird baths, and when we change her cage, she’ll sit on top and talk to you like she’s a little person,” intern Tijona Owens told the Washington Post. “She’s very vocal, and she’s always hungry.
Bertrand, Formerly King Kong the Raven
Last year, Diva Crows was in the news when Sevcenko took in a huge injured raven named King Kong.
She explained why ravens are beneficial and highly intelligent animals.
“They never forget a face, so never make a crow angry,” she said. “They also chase away predators and are wonderful to have in the neighborhood because they clean up garbage and eat rodents.”
Bertrand or Bert Chose His Own Name
Someone had shot the raven with a pellet gun in Chantilly, injuring his shoulder. Although vets recommended euthanasia, she decided to save him.
“I just looked at this beautiful bird — the largest raven I’d ever seen — and I thought, ‘He doesn’t seem to be in pain. Maybe there’s something we can do, even though his injuries are permanent and he’ll never fully be a raven again,'” she said.
Once King Kong fully recovered, he found a permanent home at Cayuga Nature Center in Ithaca, N.Y. There, he decided on his own name, Bertrand.
The staff carefully laid out five names for then-King Kong to choose from, each on a piece of paper with a dead mouse on top of it.
- Indigo
- Eolas
- Tarot
- Renwykon
- Bertrand
King Kong went to the mouse with the name Bertrand, which means “bright raven.” As with Hope, everyone loves watching and interacting with the clever bird. While they live to be 10-15 years old in the wild, they could sometimes live up to 40 or 50 years old in captivity.
A Banned Book About Animals Rising Up Brings Hope
Sevcenko is the daughter of Ihor Sevcenko, a scholar who once collaborated with author George Orwell while translating his book in a refugee camp. Together, they created a Ukrainian translation of “Animal Farm,” a fictional or “fairy story” in which “oppressed animals rise up against their tormentors.” However, the themes, similar to Orwell’s 1984, and all-too-familiar about the ongoing human struggle for freedom.
The English animals hoped to create a society where the animals could be equal, free, and happy. Then, they create their own green flag with a symbolic white bird on it.
Video by Extra History about Animal Farm:
Finding ‘Hope’ in Dark Times
Orwell’s unique preface for the Ukrainian book became the only version to survive after the English version was lost and the Soviets banned the books.
“My father did it because he knew that the people he was living with, the refugees, the people that were fleeing from Stalin and the totalitarian Soviet regime, that the West was beginning to understand and come to grips with the problem, and to see the threat of communism. And so, he did it to give the people he was living with and himself hope,” Sevcenko said.
Video by FIRE about the Orwell book:
Featured image: Albino crow from Wikimedia Commons