A permissive Canadian city is so full of drugs that even its birds have been seen getting high on the streets.
asserted
birds → see → streets
Crows in Prince George, British Columbia have been finding opioids left over by addicts in the crime-ridden city.
asserted
Crows → find → city
The city legalized drugs in a disastrous woke 2023 pilot program which it chose not to renew in early 2026 - but the consequences continue to be felt locally.
asserted
consequences → legalize → 2026
A shocking video shared to social media shows a twitching bird prone on the ground with its head bowed after consuming the drugs.
asserted
head → share → drugs
The problem has become so widespread that volunteers from animal rescue group Good Caws Crow Rescue Society have been forced to carry naloxone, an overdose-reversing medication usually used to save the lives of human beings.
asserted
volunteers → become → beings
Volunteer Dayna Slater says the group has dealt with more than a dozen suspected drug overdoses among crows this year.
asserted
group → say → crows
'It's disheartening, it's scary,' Slater told the CBC.
asserted
Slater → tell → CBC
'It's a whole bunch of factors coming together to make, like, the perfect storm.'
Slater said overdosing birds are showing up in increasing numbers in an area of Prince George where illegal drug use is known to occur.
Crows in Prince George, British Columbia have been finding opioids left over by addicts in the crime-ridden city
asserted
Crows → come → city
The problem has become so widespread that volunteers from animal rescue group Good Caws Crow Rescue Society have been forced to carry naloxone
Prince George is notorious for illegal drug use.
asserted
George → become → use
The BC premier decriminalized drugs in 2023
The stricken crows can be seen with their wings spread wide, eyes shut and with extremely slow heart rates.
asserted
eyes → decriminalize → rates
Some birds have died as a result of overdoses.
asserted
birds → die → overdoses
They remain alive but appear completely unresponsive.
asserted
They → remain → ?
In some cases, she said, a brown liquid foam has emerged from their beaks.
asserted
foam → say → beaks
Slater believes the birds are picking up traces of toxic drugs from garbage left exposed on city streets.
asserted
birds → believe → streets
'A crow doesn't know the difference between a sandwich bag and a bag that had something in it,' Slater said.
asserted
Slater → know → it
And the amount required to cause harm can be tiny.
asserted
amount → require → harm
'It takes something the size of like a grain of sand to affect a bird,' she said.
asserted
she → take → bird
Slater said most of the birds treated by the rescue group have recovered sufficiently to be released within 24 hours.
asserted
most → say → hours
Veterinarian Dr Kaitlyn Liukaitis, of Birchwood Veterinary Clinic, has treated some of the birds and said their symptoms are consistent with toxic drug exposure.
asserted
symptoms → treat → exposure
In January 2023, British Columbia premier David Eby decriminalized drugs in the province - a move he later admitted was a mistake.
asserted
he → decriminalize → province
'I was wrong on drug decriminalization and the effect it would have,' he said during a speech in October 2025.
asserted
he → have → October
'What it became was a permissive structure that... it was okay to use drugs anywhere that resulted in really unhappy consequences.'
asserted
that → become → consequences
In Prince Georg, overdose calls have at times tripled, contributing to a constant backdrop of emergency sirens throughout the city.
asserted
calls → triple → city
Now, according to Slater and others in the local veterinary scene the consequences are turning up in the city's wildlife
They advocate safe indoor spaces where people can access and use drugs - reducing the likelihood that dangerous substances and the drug related waste will be left exposed outdoors
However, after decriminalization of possession was put in place, British Columbia became a mecca of open-air drug use.
uncertain
Columbia → accord → use
And while British Columbia chose not to continue with the pilot program in 2026, the province and its cities remain plagued by criminality and squalor as a result of the experiment.
asserted
province → choose → experiment
The Daily Mail has contacted David Eby for comment.
asserted
Mail → contact → comment
The Aporia
