A small child is playing on a farm when suddenly a golden eagle attacks. The mother reacts quickly, but the animal does not let go. This is not an isolated case.
Trøndelag – It is an incident that is both shocking and astonishing: A golden eagle attacked a little girl in Norway and tried to abduct her. The news channel NRK reports on this. Even when the mother intervened, the bird of prey did not stop.
“The mother had to fight to get him to let go”: Golden eagle tries to drag girl away
The 20-month-old child was playing in the yard of a small farm in central Norway when the bird unexpectedly swooped down from the air and tried to grab her. “The eagle appeared out of nowhere and grabbed our youngest daughter,” the father told Norway’s state news channel. He was not at the scene at the time of the incident.
The mother reacted quickly and intervened, according to the report. But even then the golden eagle did not let go of the girl. Although the mother managed to push the bird away, it returned the next moment and attacked the toddler again. “The mother had to fight to get the eagle to let go,” NRK quoted the father as saying.
It was only when a neighbor came to help that the bird of prey was able to flee. The girl was then taken to hospital and had to have stitches on the back of her head, reports NRK. She also had scratches on her face and neck. “The eagle’s claw was two centimeters away from the girl’s eye,” said gamekeeper Per Kare Vinterdal, who eventually caught the bird and put it to sleep. This fate also befell a dog in Austria that attacked a jogger out of the blue a few weeks ago and bit her to death.
Can even kill ibexes: Golden eagles are skilled hunters
After the sea eagle, golden eagles are the largest birds of prey of their kind and are also native to Germany. According to the German Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU), their bodies are between 79 and 95 centimeters long and their wingspan can be up to two and a half meters. According to experts, attacks on humans are extremely unusual.
The golden eagle feeds mainly on medium-sized mammals, other birds or carrion. It mainly hunts hares, marmots or chickens, but also animals that are significantly heavier than itself, such as ibexes or fawns. However, it cannot carry them away, explains biologist Samuel Furrer from Zurich Zoo.
“They grab prey of this size by the head and then drive their extraordinarily sharp and powerful claws through the skull into the brain,” the expert told the news portal 20min.ch in 2012, when a video of a similar case in Canada was circulating. “Small children are of absolutely no interest to golden eagles,” Furrer said at the time. However, in May of this year, a bird of prey attacked a jogger in Switzerland.
Mysterious incidents in Norway: Eagle attack on girl was the fourth in five days
Ornithologist Alv Ottar Folkestad describes the incident in Norway as a sensation that follows no logic. If you get too close to the animals in the wild, they could attack out of fear. Otherwise, they are harmless to humans. The expert spoke to NRK about the animals’ hunting behavior after four attacks were reported in Norway within five days.
Before the girl was attacked, a golden eagle attacked a wildlife observer on Tuesday (September 3), and shortly afterwards a hiker was also attacked. A day later, a woman was attacked at a cabin. A series of targeted orca attacks on ships is similarly baffling for scientists. (rku)
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