A man who befriended a crow and called him Craig fears the cigarettes he used to steal may have killed off the bird.
Upset Pete Catt, 37, became close to the creature and the dad would get daily visits as he worked in his garden.
The black crow used to grab his cigs and brought him others he had found as the pair formed an unusual bond.
But he fears the animal may have paid the price for his 'addiction' to Amber Leaf.
Pete, from Bexhill, East Sussex, says he and Craig first became pals when he refused to leave him alone when digging outside.
He says he would constantly follow him around and he soon found out why.
The bird would bring the gardener back random cigarette butts, apparently growing addicted to the taste of tobacco.
“One day I rolled a cigarette and it nicked it," he told The Sun.
"I offered it a light and it appeared to nod its head.
“After that, if I stepped out the back to smoke it would swoop down to join me and try to get the cigarette."
Sadly, the visitor hasn't been seen since October - and Pete fears the cigarettes may be behind his sad absence from the area.
“We don’t know what happened, but maybe it was the cigarettes which did it,” he added.
It's not just Pete who misses the crow.
Craig used to perch on Pete’s daughter Phoebe, seven, and son Austin, five - and would let the children feed him.
Pete has decided to pay the perfect tribute to his AWOL winged friend.
Turning more than 6,000 pictures he took of the bird into a collection of NFT artwork, he has and even made the missing bird his own Twitter account called @IamCryptoCraig.
The dad says he plans to use money raised from the sale of his crow-inspired artwork to fund 'the best BDSM venue in the UK'.
