A YouTube video that purports to show a golden eagle attempting to carry off a small child in a semi-urban park in Montreal has gone viral on social media networks. Unfortunately, for the eagle-haters, the video is clearly a fake. It’s not even a golden eagle! Watch the video here.
Unsurprisingly, the Daily Mail pounced on the story, with the headline: “Kidnapper from the skies” and described the golden eagle as “the feathered beast, one of the world’s deadliest birds of prey” (see here). They later updated their story, perhaps realising it was all an elaborate hoax.
Bert Burnett of the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association was also on hand to offer his customary insightful analysis. Here’s what he posted on the SGA’s Facebook page:
“I have no doubt that the usual idiots will brand this video as a fake but then again they probably don’t believe the holocaust took place either“.
No surprises there – last year the SGA wrote to the Scottish Government about the threat of reintroduced sea eagles eating children in Scotland (see here and here).
Another YouTube video of equal authenticity, showing a baby being carried to an eagle’s nest, can be watched here.
UPDATE ON THE HOAX VIDEO here
Raptor Persecution UK 
You may very well mock this video but it is a well known fact that an eagle rescued Gandalf (a fully grown wizard) from his imprisionment by Saruman. I have even seen this on film as well.
Pip
Lots of interest in this video – I’m a supported of Raptor persecution, but am interested to know why you think it’s fake? I’ve seen a Sea Eagle in Mull swoop for one of my dogs, which must weigh not far short of a toddler. It lost interest when screaming humans ran towards it. [FWIW, I support the reintroduction of raptors across the UK, and am Highland based)
One obviously hoax video and here we go again. There is nothing like a perceived danger to children to ignite a mass panic.
According to the statistics “Injuries sustained from dog strikes or bites resulted in nearly 6,500 hospital admissions in England last year – with children under 10 accounting for around one in every six admissions.”
http://www.ic.nhs.uk/article/2100/Admission-rates-for-dog-bites-and-strikes-highest-among-young-children-with-under-10s-accounting-for-one-in-six-admissions
Sorry Bert but I think children are far more likely to be injured or even killed by a domestic dog than a wild bird of prey.
Pleased you picked up the comment from Burt, I would liked to have left a message for him but they still have me blocked from posting or commenting on their Facebook page. They are so quick to post anythIng that paints raptors in a bad light and fits with their ‘traditional’ thinking.
Indeed. And yet not so quick to post anything about their ‘inquiry’ into the curious incident of the eagle in the night time. Nor the dead hen harrier that was found shot on a Grampian grouse moor. Nor the golden eagle that was found shot and critically injured on a grouse moor in D&G. Nor…..need I go on?
The video looks like a fake to me but brought up links to another video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=D7ZFLuZqCXc) that looked very real showing a golden eagle being flown by falconers in Mongolia attacking a young male. I think it is potentially unhelpful to pretend such a thing as an eagle attack couldn’t happen when probably there is a very remote chance it could. It is more helpful to talk about the probability of it happening, i.e. virtually nil compared to the chance of being hit by a car, bitten by a dog or electrocuting yourself on an electric blanket. In general we are incredibly bad at differentiating between mundane high risk activities such as crossing the road and low risk dramatic events such as shark (or, even more unlikely, eagle) attacks.
Sorry Bert, children are much more in danger from the poisons & traps which abound in the Scottish countryside.
As recent events have so tragically demonstrated, a greater danger to children is people carrying guns.