Eagle tries to snatch boy during Alice Springs nature show
It’s one thing you certainly don’t expect to happen when seeing a nature show, but one young boy was almost carried away by an eagle at the Alice Springs Desert Park last week.
The unnamed boy, thought to be around six to eight years old, was reportedly playing with the zipper on his hoodie when suddenly the wedge-tailed eagle, Australia’s largest bird of prey, flew at him and tried to carry him off “like a small animal,” according to the BBC.
A crowd of onlookers watched helplessly as the eagle sunk its talons onto the boy’s head in an attempt to fly away with him. Miraculously, he escaped with only a “superficial” cut to his face, though he was bleeding and visibly upset by the ordeal.
Victorian woman Christine O’Connell managed to capture the attack on camera, explained that the boy “kept running his zipper up and down,” which distracted the bird and led to the attack.
“He screamed, the mother was distraught and the presenters wrapped up the show very quickly,” another witness told the NT News.
The Alice Springs Desert Park released a statement after details of the incident leaked to the media. “A thorough investigation regarding the circumstances behind this incident is under way and the eagle will be removed from the show while this investigation is ongoing.”
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