Golden eagle killed after attacks on humans

A golden eagle behaving “radically different from normal” was killed this month after repeated attacks on humans, according to The Associated Press.
The bird likely had a behavior disorder that made it more aggressive than other golden eagles, said Ottar Folkestad, an eagle expert with BirdLife Norge, to The Associated Press.
The juvenile golden eagle, likely born this year, had targeted humans on at least four different occasions — most recently a 20-month-old girl, who was taken to the hospital after being attacked on Saturday.
The girl, whose identity will not be disclosed, per her family’s wishes, was playing outside a farm in Orkland, Norway, when the eagle came “out of the blue” and attacked her, The Associated Press reported. The girl’s mother, along with a neighbor, rushed to defend her, eventually fending off the bird with a stick.
The girl received several stitches. One of the claw marks was under her eye.
A gamekeeper later killed the eagle to prevent it from causing more harm to humans.
Folkestad believes the eagle that was killed was the same eagle that attacked 31-year-old Francis Ari Sture two days earlier. Sture was hiking alone when he felt what he initially thought was a human attacking him. He didn’t realize what it was until the eagle landed next to him.
Over a 10- to 15-minute period, the eagle struck Sture five more times, scratching his arms and face as he sprinted toward a campsite, which was two hours away by foot. It would attack, then fly away and land somewhere before attacking again, per The Associated Press.
Sture said he rushed down a 160-foot slope of loose rocks, hoping he wouldn’t slip for fear that the eagle “would start to eat me.”
When Sture finally arrived at the campsite, he was able to arrange for a taxi to take him to the hospital, where doctors told him that his sunglasses and long sleeves likely protected him from more serious injuries.
Two others in the region also reported being attacked by an eagle matching the same description.
Though Folkestad believes the golden eagle had a behavioral disorder, Per Kare Vinterdal, the gamekeeper who killed the bird, believes it saw the girl as prey.
That being said, attacks like these are uncharacteristic of golden eagles, even for hunting purposes.
According to the American Eagle Federation, eagles are “opportunistic feeders and will take advantage of an easy meal,” including small mammals, other birds and the carcasses of dead large mammals. They have been known to attack larger animals to protect their young.