Tower of London ravens flee to find food as visitor numbers fall
Ravens at the Tower of London are fleeing to look for food due to sluggish visitor numbers at the tourist attraction.
According to legend, if six ravens permanently abandon the tower, which houses the Crown Jewels, the kingdom, the crown and the building will fall.
The attraction closed on March 20 ahead of the UK’s coronavirus lockdown, however tourist numbers in central London have remained low since the attraction reopened five weeks ago.
Summer visitors numbers have reportedly fallen to less than 800 a day due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Before the crisis, Tower of London visitor numbers would have risen to more than 15,000 a day at this time of year.
The slump in visitor numbers, and the subsequent lack of leftovers, have led to at least two ravens to venture beyond the castle’s precincts to search for food.
Tower of London Ravenmaster Christopher Skaife told The Sun: “If the ravens were to leave, the Tower would crumble to dust.
“The Tower is only the Tower when the people are here.
“The ravens have always been so important to the Tower because they’ve been surrounded by myths and legends.
“We really need people to come back to help the ravens.”
Skaife also said he has encouraged Beefeaters to throw the ravens their leftovers.
He added: “Never in a raven’s history have we seen fewer people in the Tower of London”.
The Tower of London’s historic Beefeater guards were put at risk of redundancy during lockdown after visitor revenue plummeted.