Should we be afraid of birds of prey in France?

She escaped with a few stitches in the back of her head and scratches on her chin and face. An 18-month-old Norwegian girl was attacked by a bird of prey on Sunday while she was in the yard of her family’s farm. According to Norwegian media, a young golden eagle swooped down on the child several times, as if it were prey, forcing her mother to intervene and then a neighbor to chase it away with a stick. The eagle was “euthanized” shortly after by one of the gamekeepers in this Trondelag region, located in the center of the country.

Is this “Hitchcockian” attack plausible, even worrying, and could it happen in France? Apparently yes, since last April a paraglider flying over Savoie took 13 long minutes to escape the talons of a golden eagle as aggressive as it is catchy. “We can’t say it never happens, but it’s extremely rare,” explains Simon Potteran expert in evolutionary biology and a bird of prey, but also a falconer. Assuming that the Norwegian attacker was indeed a golden eagle – this “powerful” bird of prey can weigh between 3 and 6 kg and have a wingspan of 2.20 m – the scientist finds the event possible since the golden eagle is a predator “that feeds on mammals such as “rabbits, hares or even foxes”. “And sometimes even very young chamois”, adds the ecologist naturalist Pierre Rigaux. Sometimes prey larger than an 18-month-old baby.

Aggressive, among eagles… as among humans

Since falconry is banned in Norway, it was necessarily a wild animal. “And these are things that can happen when you share an ecosystem, but the risk is anecdotal compared to that of being attacked by a dog for example,” insists Simon Potier who does not want to participate in the slightest psychosis.

And for those who are worried, Pierre Rigaux also highlights the statistical evidence. “There are a few hundred pairs of golden eagles in France, especially in the southern mountain ranges, notably the Alps and the Pyrenees, and incidents of this type are extremely rare,” he says. “All wild animals have different individualities. Among eagles, as among nightingales, crows or even humans, there are some that can be a little more enterprising or aggressive than average, but in fact, in the vast majority of cases, the presence of golden eagles poses absolutely no problem,” he argues again, recalling that “all birds of prey are protected by law.”

Don’t mistake eagles for buzzards

Aerial attacks by buzzards, much more common and much lighter birds of prey, are, however, more frequent. There are about ten of them per year in France. But for them, who prefer mice, reptiles or flies to rabbits, it is not a question of predation. “In spring and early summer, during the nesting period, they protect their nests and eggs when you get too close to them,” assures Simon Potier. And while the local press records a few well-aimed pecks and claws, they tend to “buffet”, that is to say, come and swoop down and stamp or slap the intruder. “They will never attack a baby, taking it for prey,” also reassures Pierre Rigaux, who is well placed to testify. He is the author ofa video “with an educational scope” “, dating from 2021, in which he returns to run in a wood where he had already been heckled by a buzzard a little like a mother hen a few days before. “She dabbed the back of my head with her paws, you can see she’s not there to grab me, explains the nature lover who had taken care to put on a cap. She didn’t chase me, she stayed within the protective radius of her nest.” Buzzards tend to attack moving troublemakers. “Joggers and cyclists” in particular. Never babies.

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