Three-year-old girl taken by an eagle up to its eyrie in the mountains

Originally posted by jbondo
Dude, did you even bother to read the posts above yours?

Wasn't correcting you. Just adding what I know about what eagles can take. I was just voicing up to the post. I never said they flew with the kills.

I kinda doubt it,

Our 3 year old lil girl weighs 36 pounds, and we have a hard time carrying her up our 3 flights of stairs half the time with grocerys and such when she falls asleep, I doubt that with that weight that bird would be able to remain in flight,

Let alone Climb high enuff to reach his nest. They hunt rodents/ lizzards/ small game, not a toddler ( I know not to eat) but also what about the nest? big enuff for a toddler?


Very interesting indeed, but not very plasuiable

plus, 3 year olds are slippery when disturbed.

[edit on 15-6-2007 by Tranceopticalinclined]

Originally posted by Kruel

Originally posted by jbondo
American Bald Eagle - 4-5lbs lifting power

Philippine Eagle - 8-9lbs lifting power

Harpy Eagle - 9-11lbs lifting power

Like humans, I'm sure not all eagles are created equal. I don't see how an above-average sized eagle couldn't carry off a small child. The fact that she wasn't hurt is the extraordinary part.

I have to agree with my good friend, Kruel. Truth is stranger than fiction and there have been a gaggle of stories throughout history of oversized, agressive birds-of- prey that are very determined and territorial. Personally, i'm afraid of all birds and if a finch attacked my hair I woiuld probably faint to the ground and it would peck slowly at my jugular vein until I bled to death and then it would eat me. Finches make suicide dive attacks and run a tight ship. Be afraid.

*BUMP*

reply to post by Hellmutt


This was a hoax

Students confessed to creating the video as part of a simulation workshop class at the Centre NAD in Montreal, Canada. They used 3D animation to create the depiction of an eagle swooping down and momentarily struggling to carry off the child in its talons, so that they could overlay the 3D elements on top of real video footage of a park.

Centre NAD released a statement revealing the hoax on Dec. 19, about a day after the video went up on YouTube. The video has since gone viral with more than 5 million views on YouTube.

One bird expert had told sister website Livescience that the video looked like an "elaborate hoax" because of the eagle's unnatural behavior, appearance and sound.

reply to post by Kandinsky


Yes, that video was a hoax. The story in the OP however, is not a hoax.

Not exactly a hoax, check this out :
eagle lifts deer

there are plenty of others . . .
youtube

I had a personal incident where as I was walking my dog on a leash yet
a Great horned owl flew down and tried to take off with him.
Good thing the dog was on a leash !

__________________________

Tranceopticalinclined
I kinda doubt it,

Our 3 year old lil girl weighs 36 pounds, and we have a hard time carrying her up our 3 flights of stairs half the time with grocerys and such when she falls asleep, I doubt that with that weight that bird would be able to remain in flight,

Let alone Climb high enuff to reach his nest. They hunt rodents/ lizzards/ small game, not a toddler ( I know not to eat) but also what about the nest? big enuff for a toddler?


Very interesting indeed, but not very plasuiable

plus, 3 year olds are slippery when disturbed.

[edit on 15-6-2007 by Tranceopticalinclined]

maybe you should take a trip to the gym every now and again

reply to post by Hellmutt


I recently watched a video where an eagle takes down a baby deer, so maybe this is possible. Reminds of that fake video of the falcon stealing the baby.

a reply to: Hellmutt

The eagle in the (hoax) video is a Golden eagle, while the eagle in the OP was a White-tailed eagle. Can a White-tailed eagle carry a three-year-old child? Maybe it was a huge female?

The golden eagle is a very large, dark brown raptor with broad wings, ranging from 66 to 102 cm (26 to 40 in) in length and from 1.8 to 2.34 m (5 ft 11 in to 7 ft 8 in) in wingspan.

[---]

The maximum size of this species is a matter of some debate.

The white-tailed eagle is a very large bird. It measures 66–94 cm (26–37 in) in length with a 1.78–2.45 m (5.8–8.0 ft) wingspan.

[---]

The record weight for the species was 7.5 kg (17 lb) for a specimen from Scotland, while a more recent huge female from Greenland reportedly spanned 2.53 m (8.3 ft) across the wings.

I have seen owls with a six foot wingspan. One of those could easily snatch a small dog but a child, nope.

originally posted by: Minime
Eagle's are quite strong ya know, but I doubt it.

I don't, watch at 3:45.

On this page are pictures of her ripped dress. Svanhild Hartvigsen died 12. november 2010 when she was 81 years old. The book (norwegian) is from 2006.

Local stories have a way of becoming local myths as they get embellished over time I suspect.

LINK

“On a wide-open beach, I have no doubt that an eagle with a full head of steam could pick up a six- or eight-pound dog and just keep on going,” Clarke said. “If it landed to kill a ten-pounder, and then tried to pick up and fly from a dead stop, could it get off the ground? Probably not.”

Eagles will carry heavier loads a short distance. Mike Jacobson spent decades as an eagle management specialist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and recently retired.

“There used to be stories about eagles carrying off babies and little kids, and none of that has ever been documented,” he said. “They can pick up and carry four or five pounds, maximum, and actually fly off with it. They can lift a little more and hop it along, but they can’t carry it off.”

Now this is about Bald Eagles and there are larger. A Golden Eagle you might add maybe two pounds to what they can lift and fly with.

I've seen firsthand an adult Bald Eagle try to fly off with a salmon that was maybe 15 lbs. but it failed and all it could do is drag it a small distance. I've seen them snatch a large fish and drag it to shore, but not take off with it. They tear a chunk off of it and fly off to avoid other eagles after the same meal.

I notice in video's of them with juvenile sheep and goats, they are dragging them off the side of cliffs and I suspect just after the camera stops it's to kill them due to the fall and they don't actually take flight with it. I'd imagine they do like with fish and tear off a meal and leave with that.

I think this is just a story of an eagle attack that has either on purpose or just through the course of time been embellished. I'd believe the eagle tore the dress and maybe even caused some injuries, but if the little child was found in the nest, it's because the child wandered off and got there on their own.

originally posted by: Blaine91555

but if the little child was found in the nest, it's because the child wandered off and got there on their own.

Here is another article in norwegian. It's an interview with one of the rescuers who found the girl. He was 14 years old at the time, and he was leading a group of rescuers, because he knew this mountain well. He says there's no way this little girl could've gotten there by herself, as even adults would have problems getting there. The article says the eagle carried the child about two kilometers, and she was found on a mountain shelf 180 meters up the mountain side, not far from the Eagle's nest. Two eagles were circling over the child, and one of them looked like its legs were injured, maybe from carrying the heavy load. The article says the girl's weight was 10-12 kilos (22-26 pounds) at the time. The article also says Svanhild was 2½ years old at the time, not 3½ years old, and that she was small for her age.

This story is very common in folklore

originally posted by: Hellmutt

originally posted by: Blaine91555

but if the little child was found in the nest, it's because the child wandered off and got there on their own.

Here is another article in norwegian. It's an interview with one of the rescuers who found the girl. He was 14 years old at the time, and he was leading a group of rescuers, because he knew this mountain well. He says there's no way this little girl could've gotten there by herself, as even adults would have problems getting there. The article says the eagle carried the child about two kilometers, and she was found on a mountain shelf 180 meters up the mountain side, not far from the Eagle's nest. Two eagles were circling over the child, and one of them looked like its legs were injured, maybe from carrying the heavy load. The article says the girl's weight was 10-12 kilos (22-26 pounds) at the time. The article also says Svanhild was 2½ years old at the time, not 3½ years old, and that she was small for her age.

If that's actually true, in my opinion they should have been looking for the person, not eagle, who put the child there.

Something about this makes me think that it is possible! I watched the youtube video of an eagle picking up a one year old, it didn't look fake to me.