Eagle snatches fox holding rabbit in mouth in dramatic images

FoxNews.com/Science ^ | May 22, 2018 | Katherine Lam

[ETL]

Videos and photos captured a bald eagle attempting to snatch a rabbit from a young red fox as they battled it out 20 feet in the air in what a photographer called a “dramatic act of thievery.”

[rustbucket]

Benjamin Franklin said the following in a letter to his daughter:

"For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him."

Here is an example of a juvenile bald eagle chasing an osprey with a fish. The osprey had a much shorter turning radius than the eagle and kept outmaneuvering the eagle even while carrying a big fish. From what I could see of this distant chase through a big telephoto lens, I think that the eagle eventually gave up.

[ETL]

From the website of the CIA...

If you think the idea of a plane rescuing someone without landing sounds like something out of a sci-fi or adventure movie, then you might be surprised to learn the CIA had a very successful program doing this very thing.

The Skyhook Aerial Retrieval System:

In the 1950s, the CIA needed a capability to extract officers out of hostile situations without ever setting foot (or wheels) on the ground. The aerial retrieval system used by the Agency was called Skyhook.

The Skyhook system used two main elements:

1. a plane equipped with steel wire-catching horns, an electric-powered winch—a mechanical device used to pull in or let out cables—and a 50-foot steel cable; and

2. a separate package of gear—delivered by air-drop—to allow officers on the ground to “catch” the Skyhook.

The First Operational Use of Skyhook

In May 1962, the Skyhook proved critical in extracting CIA officers and materials from an abandoned Soviet ice station that was suspected to have monitored American submarines. This was the first operational use of Skyhook, and it yielded valuable intelligence on the USSR’s Arctic activities.

The operation is illustrated above in “Seven Days in the Arctic,” a painting from the Agency’s Intelligence Art Gallery.

The CIA Museum recently added a new Skyhook artifact to its collection: an instruction card for the officers being plucked off the ground by the Skyhook.

Skyhookfrontthumb.jpgSkyhookback.jpgHere’s how the process worked:

From the air-dropped package, the officer on the ground used a helium balloon to lift a 500-foot cable into the air.

Then he would strap himself to a harness connected to the other end of the cable, and sit with the wind to his back and arms crossed.

A low-flying, slow-moving plane, such as a B-17, would snag the cable with the Skyhook device on its nose, sweeping the person off the ground.

The plane’s crew then pulled the officer aboard the aircraft within a matter of minutes.

Note that the Skyhook instruction card urges users to “act carefully rather than quickly” because their safety depended on it.

To learn more about the inventors of Skyhook and its role in CIA operations, read the Center for the Study of Intelligence articles: Robert Fulton’s Skyhook and Operation Coldfeet and “Seven Days in the Arctic.”

https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2012-featured-story-archive/skyhook.html

[ETL]

Tough way to go. Eaten alive.

[ETL]

That fox and rabbit getting snatched up reminds me of the trick that was used to snatch men up without landing the plane … had an uncle who was involved in that during the Korean War

[GOPJ]

Big win for the Eagle ...

[SgtHooper]

They’re hoppin’ to it right now.

[EinNYC]

That little fox cub was DARN lucky that eagle didn’t dig its long and lethal talons into IT as well as the rabbit. The fox lived to hunt another day.

[TheRightGuy]

OAN rocks ... their eagle beats FOX

[Kommodor]

Poor fox had to go home hungry. Mother nature is such a youknowwhat.

[T-Bone Texan]

"...the trick that was used to snatch men up without landing the plane...

Like in The Ballad of the Green Berets?

Or like in one of the old Bond movies?

[sarge83]

When we were growing up we had an old tomcat who was well a lard butt, he probably weighed 20+ lbs. We noticed one day he had two deep wounds behind his neck and we put medicine on it and got to watching him. When he would go out he would immediately look up when he left the house or garage and he stayed near the cars in the driveway if he saw anything flying he would dart under a car. We had hawks around our place and figured one thought he would be a tasty snack and tried to lift his big butt off the ground only to find he weighed too much for take off. We found these same marks on him again a few years later and noted the same behavior as soon as he went outside.

[Billthedrill]

I thought about it and decided that I did not want to be the person to tell this woman that an eagle ate her cat.

Oh, yeah. We're almost at Memorial Day, when the Summer People inundate my neighborhood, which is a major eagle playground. Give it a week and the notices will begin to appear in the Post Office - "Missing Pet", usually with a bit of text indicating that Fluffy has run away. Nobody has the heart to tell them that Fluffy was someone's breakfast. Last year it was a teacup Pomeranian, f'Petessake. Its name wasn't Hors d'Oeuvre but it might as well have been.

[trisham]

We often have “missing cat” signs on trees and poles up and down our street. We also have a coyote den about 1/8 of a mile from the back of our property. Maybe eventually people will figure out the connection.

[21twelve]

I was talking to a gal at the animal rescue place. She said rabbits are full grown at 3 or 4 months and can start having babies then.

“Wow - I guess when you're that low on the food chain you have to live your life quick.” She said life span in the wild is about a year.

I like fishing for Northern Pike. Kept a clip from the paper in my wallet. Something like “Bird watchers were astounded to see a Hornbeaked Mallard (or whatever!) - the first seen in North America in over 30 years. And then, horrifically, a Northern Pike attacked and swallowed it whole.”

[Crusher138]

Between the hawks, eagles and coyotes small pets don’t stand a chance in my New Mexico neighborhood.

It is a common occurrence to see someone move into the neighborhood and then, a few days later, the missing pet notice goes up on the central mail box. It is usually a small dog or cat.

A friend of mine saved one of her chihuahua’s from an eagle. The bird swooped in but misjudged the distance/height of the wall and plowed into it with the dog in it’s talons. My friend proceeded to beat the eagle with a broom until it retreated. She posted photos of the talon wounds on her dog. Nasty.

[Dante3]

l

[nesnah]

Trump = Eagle

Fox = Deep State/Democrats/RINOs (but, I repeat myself)

Rabbit = Truth

[Trillian]

[snarkytart]

An old lie, often repeated.

Bald Eagles are amazing animals. They take care of their offspring better than most humans are they mate for life and are faithful, unless their mate is killed or dies.

[snarkytart]

The bald eagle is an apex predator is is way bigger than an Osrey so the fact it maneuvers quicker is a big DUH! Bald Eagles are badass birds who will kill and hunt but also like EVERY bird of prey will scavenge too.
They mate for life and watching their nest cams for awhile they are protective dedicated parents that take turns feeding and caring for their offspring.
Amazing birds.