North Lakes Coles crow lives above the cosmetics aisle for 10 days
A wild crow has been perched on the neon lights above the cosmetics aisle at Coles in North Lakes, near Brisbane, for at least 10 days. Shoppers walk past while Coles Radio plays The Final Countdown. Coles and the RSPCA say they are trying to catch it humanely.
In North Lakes, just outside Brisbane, a wild crow has turned a Coles supermarket into a long-stay hotel – perched on the neon lights above the cosmetics aisle for at least 10 days.
According to a Westfield North Lakes shop assistant speaking to the Brisbane Times, the bird has been in the shop since at least last week. Reporter Julius Dennis found it wild-eyed on the strip lights, shuffling its feet whenever shoppers walked past. Marks of its droppings dirty the tiles below. Over the speakers, Coles Radio was playing The Final Countdown.
Most people just walk past. Melissa Webb has not: she has been checking on the crow on her lunch break every day since last Wednesday, posting online to push management into a proper rescue. Outside the shop, Warren Parker joked the bird “would make a good spy camera – stop people thieving,” then admitted he felt for it as it moved every time someone tried a catch.
Stock photo: an Australian raven in Sydney (13 Nov 2023) – not the North Lakes crow. Photo: Charles J. Sharp / CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons).
Stock photo: a supermarket aisle – not the North Lakes Coles. Photo: Pixabay / Pexels.
A Coles spokesperson said the company shared the community’s concern and was “working with a professional third-party provider to safely capture and remove the bird,” while meeting food-safety and animal-welfare duties. Rumours that a firm had been brought in to euthanise it were firmly denied.
RSPCA Queensland officers attended the store on Friday morning. A spokesperson said store management had confirmed efforts to catch the crow humanely, and noted birds often get trapped in shopping centres – urging designers to add high-level exits so wildlife can leave on their own.
AI illustration – imagined day-10 residency; not the actual bird.
AI illustration – imagined catch attempt. (Spot Gaz, our gorilla, hiding somewhere in this picture.)
Ten days up, Final Countdown on loop, crow still on the neon. The cosmetics aisle has never looked so watched.
Reported by Julius Dennis for Brisbane Times (6 Nov 2026); also Crow evades capture at Coles North Lakes.
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