Bird Divides Community After It “Attacks” Children In Neighborhood

Nuala Asquith - Yorkshire Live / Facebook

According to a local news outlet in Yorkshire, a young jackdaw bird named Derek has been flying around terrorizing the community and some of the residents are absolutely fed up with it.

The Rossington community near Doncaster has a Facebook group that’s been inundated with posts about Derek going back as far as 2019. He has certainly become a celebrity in that group with some people loving him and others hating him.

Recently, Derek is said to have been a nuisance and utter menace to some children who were playing in their backyard, according to a mother who was upset about it.

Yorkshire Live said the mom wrote in the Facebook group, “It comes to something when kids can’t even go into their own garden without being petrified because of that bloody bird Derek dive bombing them and trying to attack them, so to whoever owns the horrible thing…”

The mother, clearly upset at the bird, went on a further rant expressing her dislike for Derek.

“If you want to try domesticate a bird like that then keep it at home because if it hurts my kids there will be hell to pay and I don’t care who that offends. The thing is a menace, attacking kids in school playground, on the street, in their own garden. If it was any other animal it would have been put to sleep following the first attack on a child,” she said.

This mad mother was not the only person upset about the young jackdaw bird’s antics. Another person chimed in and described Derek as “pure evil” after he witnessed it attacking a child in the street.

He said, “Is this the horrible thing that was attacking a young boy a few weeks ago opposite baths? I had to stop my car in the middle of the road to help him. That thing was pure evil.”

While Derek had a few haters, some people defended the bird saying that it had an amazing relationship with the local children who often feed him bird food snacks.

One lady said, “He landed on my son a few years ago when he was walking to the bus stop. I think he just wanted a piggyback.”

Another mother said, “My daughter has told me a few times that Derek has caused all the kids to go inside at playtime at school. She said most of the kids love him.”

A third person pleaded with the residents to leave Derek alone, saying that he meant no harm: “Poor Derek. I know the bird please leave it alone it means no harm. Many thanks.”

While Derek is notoriously dividing the community, one mom spoke up and said that one of her children loves the bird, while her other kid hates him.

She said, “Derek was a regular in our garden. My young son hates him as he scratched his face. My daughter loves him. During lockdown, he was sat on her arm for well over an hour.”