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A crow has been detained following reports it had attacked a pair of tourists as they arrived at their holiday cottage.

The couple, from Paris, were getting out of their car at the cottage in Coussay-les-Bois, in rural Vienne, when the crow "very quickly and aggressively" pecked at the legs of the man, then attacked the tyres and doors of their vehicle.

The woman fell as she moved away from the bird. She was taken to the A&E department of the nearest hospital, where she needed two stitches on a cut on her chin.

"I [reported the incident] at the gendarmerie because if I didn't do anything, it could have happened to someone else," she told France Bleu Poitou.

But the report baffled the village's mayor, Michel Favreau. "I have better things to do … than take care of the crows," he said. "It's the crow that attacks, it's the boar that scares, it's the dog that barks, the cow that moos.

"I have lived in the countryside for 72 years. I've never seen a crow attack people like that."

Nevertheless, Mr Favreau, was obliged to pass the report to the local . The bird was later captured and taken to an animal protection centre in Targé, near Châtellerault.