• brandonmwest

    Fake because pixels http://io9.com/5969695/that-crazy-video-of-a-golden-eagle-trying-to-make-off-with-a-toddler-yeah-its-a-fake

    • Brainspore

      I’m not convinced either way yet, but that debunking was pretty scant on evidence too. Anyone with an informed opinion that goes beyond “that doesn’t look quite right?”

      • greebo
        • Brainspore

          Yes, that will do nicely.

        • http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns

          And what a damn good fake too.

          • http://www.facebook.com/sheri.l.williamson Sheri L. Williamson

            Not really, because it’s the wrong shape, color, and pattern for a Golden (or Bald) Eagle, and the wings are too floppy (a common problem with CGI birds in flight).

          • http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns

            Hmm, maybe I watched birdemic one too many times.

      • http://masongentry.com Mason Gentry

        you can see where they rotoscoped around the adults head: http://imgur.com/jEBCK

    • Paul Renault

      Not to mention, the kid would be bleeding.  Y’know, razor-sharp talons, and all that, eh.

  • schlocktober

    UAV satire?

  • http://twitter.com/MrAaronSwainEsq Aaron Swain

    Holy fucking shit!  Might want to consider this video before buying one of those adorable knitted beanies from Etsy for your kid…

    • http://twitter.com/MrAaronSwainEsq Aaron Swain

      …aaaaand it’s fake. Of course.

  • Digilante

    Oh man, and there I was rooting for the eagle. Gad I hate children.

    • Brainspore

      Oh, you must be one of those insta-clones. Neat!

      • Digilante

         If you were blessed by as many genetic f-ups as I am, you’d also hate the whole concept.

        • Antinous / Moderator

          I’ve been independently described by half a dozen doctors as a “freak of nature” and I love children.  I’d just choose one with somebody else’s DNA.

  • lknope

    All of a sudden that wire cage for babies the Kansas State Board of Health was advocating doesn’t seem so bad.

    http://craphound.com/images/00214338.jpg

    • Isaac Rinke

      I would laugh if I wasn’t from Kansas. I live in a densely populated area and we still get Red Tail Hawks and Coyotes carrying off our Dogs and Cats, not to mention the occasional Deer running about.

  • Ashen Victor

    I remember a bird of prey show I went where the speaker advised fathers to keep their children with them because bigger predators may confuse them for prey.

  • Navin_Johnson

    I wanted to immediately think that it was fake, because what kind of parent or person would keep filming while/after their baby had been attacked by a predator, but then I recalled I see parents push their strollers into traffic expecting bikes and cars to just stop or swerve around them all the time. It’s just one of those special bond things that us folks without kids will never “get” until we have seeds of our own.

    • EH

      For me, it wasn’t apparent that the filmer had anything to do with the child. But, I’m always suspicious when the camera goes bonkers right at the moment of interestingness.

      • knoxblox

         Exactly. The camera work is as smooth as a Fort Benning sniper, and then it’s all of a sudden, “Oops! The camera slipped!”

      • dollarama

        The cameraman says, en bon québécois, “votre enfant y’est-tu correct?” – Is _your_ kid okay? With the polite “votre” that one uses with strangers, typically.

  • Nylund

    I was eating lunch in Bryant Park in NYC about 10 years ago when a falcon swooped down and grabbed someone’s daschund.  

    • moioci

       In defense of the raptor, a dachshund DOES look like lunch meat.

    • Navin_Johnson

       I see how they could be mistaken for a well fed squirrel or rodent.

      • http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns

        I remember hearing as a kid that large eagles will hunt badgers. 

  • Friendly_Stranger

    Totally fake – Student CGI project. http://blogue.centrenad.com/2012/12/19/le-centre-nad-rassure-les-montrealais-aucun-danger-denlevement-par-un-aigle-royal/

    • MurasakiMadness

      They get their degree now, right? 

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/Freethinkersanon Christopher

    Back in the early 1990′s when David Letterman was still on NBC he once set up a stunt that involved an eagle flying between the building across the street and 30 Rockefeller Plaza. One one pass the eagle decided instead to turn and fly off down the street. The audience was laughing and Letterman went nuts, going on about how eagles will grab babies. The next night Letterman claimed to have footage of the eagle snatching a baby, and played a silent film clip of a baby in front of a cabin being carried off by an eagle.

    Paul Schaffer asked, “Was the baby okay?” and Letterman replied, “Yeah, they found her in Phoenix.”

    Someone please tell me I’m not the only one who remembers that.  

  • http://twitter.com/writebastard Ian Wood

    Shooped. I can tell because I’ve seen many a raptor steal a baby and heard the laments of its parents in my day.

    /Also driven my enemies before me, but that’s only tangentially relevant here.

    • sjalur

       Love that movie.

  • theophrastvs

    what is the maximum payload of yer basic big-ass eagle?  (single eagle, no creepers.  and yes yes: “one Bombur”)

    • johne2

      30-40 lbs, or one fat beagle.

      • theophrastvs

         wow… so they have a payload that exceeds their own weight? (even the extinct Haast eagle only got up to 30 lbs)  but maybe if the baby was on a conveyor belt was equipped with a large propeller and all the canaries were flying at the same time… hm.

        • johne2

          I dunno…wild guess but have heard of good sized dogs being carried to their certain doom.  

      • abstract_reg

        How many coconuts is that?

    • Hugh Jorgan

       European? Or African?

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/Freethinkersanon Christopher

    “I just thought I’d pop round to the shops. FUCK! AN EAGLE!”–Craig Ferguson

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuFFBO0vnRs

    • millie fink

      Amazing how much better looking he is now!

      • http://www.youtube.com/user/Freethinkersanon Christopher

        I think quitting drinking has really done wonders for him. And he’s still as funny now as he was then, if not funnier. I also enjoy being able to say I was a fan of Craig Ferguson back when he was calling himself Bing Hitler. 

  • awjt

    Yet another argument for having multiple loaded assault weapons with you at all times, even in Canada.  Oh, and kevlar snuggies for the baby in case you miss.

  • davide405

    It had to be faked, because no Canadian eagle would be so impolite as to carry off a child without first getting permission from the parents, eh?

    • Navin_Johnson

      I think I heard the eagle say “Sorey!” as it flew off.

      • http://celesteagnes.blogspot.com/ Sekino

         Since it’s in Montreal, it was more like “Excusez-moi, là!”

  • s2redux

    ::sigh:: As usual, the red-tailed hawk gets no credit for the sound effect.

    • http://twitter.com/ErnestValdemar Ernest Valdemar

       We’ve got a nesting pair of red-tailed hawks near the office park where I work. It’s like having a real-life movie star hanging out in the parking lot. “You may remember me from such classic scenes as ‘bald eagle with American flag,’ ‘medieval falconry scene,’ and ‘stock footage of Monument Valley.’”

  • franko

    if you follow @TweetsOfOld, they’ve been putting out links to “eagle snags baby” stories all morning from newspaper accounts going back to the late 1800s. fun stuff. [EDIT: here’s a link to the stream: https://twitter.com/TweetsofOld

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1659024550 Dan Mcenroe

    So, the eagle is CG but they really made the kid cry, right?

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=850510400 Carolyn Fitzpatrick

    These scientists say that it is fake, and are pretty annoyed at whoever has been besmirching this bird’s reputation like this.

    Black Swamp Bird Observatory:
    https://www.facebook.com/bsbobird/posts/10151115586040378

  • skeptacally

    Dear Eagle,

    You are completely cramping my style.

    Sincerely,
    Dingo

  • Stjohn

    I’d say that’s more of a “big bastarding burd like a simurg or a lammergeier.”

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1430425597 William Quintin
  • http://www.facebook.com/bramjanssen1980 Bram Janssen

    In ye olden days this actually happened. There is even a pre-human sapiens fossil found with clawmarks on them.