Crows will pack hunt rats. I didn’t know they did this until I watched it happen this year. One would peck at it from behind; the rat would squeak and whip around; next crow would hop in and peck it from behind. Rinse, spin, repeat a few times and in 5 minutes or so they were picking meat off the rat.

All I could think watching this, was that I was watching a literal murder of crows.

I saw a group of 3 or 4 seagulls take down a pigeon in this way on an office rooftop next door.

It was too gruesome to watch. When I next looked out there was just a wing with a few feathers hanging off it sitting there.

I've moved from waving the nearest $long_yard_tool randomly to a pellet gun, which has proved to be pretty humane. Something about having an orange tree next to a neighbor's avocado tree really attracts the rats.