Ravenmaster
Keeps the Legend Alive
“The legend dates to the
reign of Charles II, the revered king whose governance of England, was marred,
in the 1660s, by consecutive catastrophes that devastated London: a plague
epidemic & a city wide fire…Charles issued a decree to the caretakers at
the Tower of London, ordering them to keep 6 ravens on the premises at all times.
If any were to depart, he warned, the kingdom would fall.
No historical evidence
supports this tale, but it makes for a good yarn, which is why Christopher
Skaife, the British military veteran who supervises the ravens today, is prone
to recounting it to some of the millions of visitors his workplace attracts
annually. Besides, the fictional decree is still being heeded: 6 ravens, at
minimum, continue to live there permanently.
For his part, Skaife thinks
the birds’ perpetual residence is a product of the Victorian era, when
guardians began to escort members of the public inside to the scaffold where 3
Queens of England- Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, & Lady Jane Grey- were
executed in the 16th century…
Skaife has been the Tower’s chief raven
overseer- the ravenmaster- for 7 years…He & his wife live within the
Tower’s walls near a fox-proofed, stainless steel enclosure that houses the
ravens at night. On a typical day, Skaife rises before dawn to fill the ravens’
water bowls, clean the enclosure, feed the ravens chicken, lamb, & pig
hearts, release them for the day & keep an eye on each of them as they mill
about the grounds.
…The 7 currently in his
charge are named Erin, Gripp II, Harris, Jubilee II, Merlina, Munin, &
Rocky.
Q. What do you think is the most remarkable quality ravens have?
A. They have empathy & sadness
& anger & pain & frustration & excitement…
For me, it was looking at
how their characteristics & their personalities actually shone through.
That’s what I love about them.
Q. How do the ravens at the Tower interact with each other?
A. Ravens in the wild work in pairs.
They like to command a lot of ground. They’re very territorial. Each pair of
ravens will go & hang around their own territories throughout the day…
Q. How do you capture a raven that escapes from the Tower?
A. I don’t always. We’ve had ravens
in the past, before my time, that have escaped & have never been caught. We
had one occasion where Munin was actually captured by a member of the public. We
managed to go & retrieve her.
…We don’t have any wild
ravens in & around the east of England & the London area. If somebody
knows their birds, they’ll know that’s a raven. I can only hope, if they do fly
off, that they come back…
Q. What relationship do the ravens have with visitors to the Tower?
A. I would never suggest anybody get
too close to the ravens, because they
do bite. They generally have a good rapport with the public…
Q. How powerful is a raven’s bite?
A. They can crush bone…In the wild,
they eat fish, rodents, mice, & small birds. It’s extremely painful when
you get a full bite from the raven. If I get a full bite, it takes all my
strength…to pry the beak apart if I have to…
Q. You write about your relationship with the raven Merlina, who
likes you but not very many other people. How did you endear yourself to her?
A.….I spend so much time with them
that she got used to me. She does have relationships with a couple of my
assistants, as well, so they can go & stroke her. Ravens recognize faces
for life, for good & bad reasons. They never forget. They recognize who is
good to them & who is not. She protects me quite a lot.
Q. What can humans learn from the raven?
A. An awful lot. Humans have a lot
to learn from animals, not just ravens. We should be able to live & work
with them in a much better way that we do…
I see myself as an
educator. I have a platform to try to educate the people who come to the Tower
about how beautiful ravens are, how intelligent they are, what they do in the
wild, why we shouldn’t persecute them…”
Nick Faris
National Post
The Gazette, Montreal
Oct. 1/2018
Cute Critter Pic
Weekly Chuckle
