Taking children outside is a key parenting hack. It helps calm them down. If they’re in a stroller and contained, you might find that you feel more at peace as well. If they’re older, they can go off and explore while you watch from the sidelines. They burn a lot of energy, return home calmer, and often sleep well.
Most of the time, being outdoors is a win-win. But there are certain risk factors and a level of unpredictability that comes with being in nature. Several people in Norway found that to be the case after they were attacked by the same golden eagle.
More from CafeMom: Couple Spooked After Finding Copperhead Snake Nesting in Baby Stroller
The bird 'came out of nowhere,' the girl's father claimed.
The eagle attacked three people within a five-day period, CBS News reported. First, the bird went after a 20-month-old girl who was playing on her family’s farm, according to the Associated Press. The attack, on September 7, continued as the child’s mother and a neighbor attempted to shoo the bird away. After the mother managed to pry the bird off of her daughter, the girl was sent to a local hospital and was treated with multiple stitches.
The girl’s father, who was not there during the attack, later told The Guardian that the child’s mother “grabbed a hold of the bird” and had to tussle with the animal to get it to let go of her baby. The father said the eagle, “came out of nowhere.”
More from CafeMom: 12-Year-Old Girl Bravely Grabs & Swings Snake To Save Her Beloved Pet Guinea Pig
Another victim thought the bird might start eating him.
Two days before, the bird also attacked a bicycle courier while he was hiking up a Norwegian mountainside.
The hiker, Francis Ari Sture, told AP the bird attacked him five times over the course of 10 to 15 minutes. The assault was so intense, Sture feared that he would lose consciousness and the bird would begin to eat him, as he was still two hours away from his campsite. He also went to the hospital for treatment.
Experts say the bird likely had a behavioral disorder.
Three days before the toddler attack, Mariann Myrvang said she felt something big land on her shoulder and yelled for help. “I went down on my knees, because I couldn’t stand up,” she told AP. Her husband fought off the eagle with a fallen tree branch.
On September 7, after days of wreaking havoc on the community, the eagle was euthanized. Eagle expert Alv Ottar Folkestad told AP that the bird “likely had a behavioral disorder” as his actions were “radically different from normal.”
Golden eagles have been known to take down deer and antelope.
Human-sized prey is not entirely unusual for golden eagles, who have been known to catch animals as large as deer and antelope, according to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Adult birds have a wingspan of more than 6 feet. Young eagles dive with one another as a form of play. During a dive, they can reach speeds of up to 120 miles per hour. They use their talons to both kill and carry their prey afterward.
