Wild Eagles Attack Paraglider

[Guest guest]

By Rob Taylor

Fri Feb 2, 9:22 AM ET

 

 

 

CANBERRA, Feb 2 (Reuters Life!) - Britain's top female paraglider has

cheated death after being attacked by a pair of " screeching " wild

eagles while competition flying in Australia.

 

 

 

 

Nicky Moss, 38, watched terrified as two huge birds began tearing

into her parachute canopy, one becoming tangled in her lines and

clawing at her head 2,500 meters (8,200ft) in the air.

 

" I heard screeching behind me and a eagle flew down and attacked me,

swooping down and bouncing into the side of my wing with its claws, "

Moss told Reuters on Friday.

 

" Then another one appeared and together they launched a sustained

attack on my glider, tearing at the wing. "

 

The encounter happened on Monday while Moss -- a member of the

British paragliding team -- was preparing for world titles this month

at Manilla in northern New South Wales state.

 

One of the giant wedge-tailed eagles became wrapped in the canopy

lines and slid down toward Moss, lashing at her face with its talons

as her paraglider plummeted toward the ground.

 

" It swooped in and hit me on the back of the head, then got tangled

in the glider which collapsed it. So I had a very, very large bird

wrapped up screeching beside me as I screamed back, " Moss said.

 

She said she thought about dumping her parachute-style canopy and

using the reserve.

 

" But then I would have been descending on my reserve as the birds

continued shredding it, which I wasn't happy about, " she said.

 

Wedge-tailed eagles are Australia's largest predatory birds and have

a wing-span of more than two meters.

 

Moss said the attack ended after the second bird freed itself and the

glider reached a height of only 100m from the ground, taking her

outside the territory of the pair, who probably mistook her as a bird

intruder.

 

Veteran Australian paraglider pilot Godfrey Wenness said eagle

attacks were rare, but Moss had been flying in an area where the

birds were not accustomed to human pilots.

 

" Eagles are the sharks of the air. But if you're a regular they just

treat you pretty indifferently, " he said.

 

Moss, who crashed into a gum tree in Australia last year while flying

in Victoria, said her latest encounter had not put her off flying.

 

" I see the eagles quite often and they are incredibly beautiful, but

I must say I have never been so relieved to reach the ground, " she

said.