To say that Campbell River, BC, the Chelsea Cheeba woman is an eagle fan would be an understatement. He loves to photograph majestic birds.
“All the time,” he told CTV News on Friday. “I even took a few selfies with an eagle.”
Chelsea Cheeba is pictured. (CTV News)
But a few days ago, a photo shoot with one of the raptors ended badly.
“I just took some pictures and then I started walking away and the next thing you know, the eagle bombarded me and put me right in the back of my head,” Cheeba said.
“Then I felt the back of my head, I looked at my hand and it was almost covered in blood,” he said.
Cheeba says the eagle attacked her not once, but twice.
An injury caused by the eagle is depicted. (CTV News)
“She looked scared”
Cheeba ran to a nearby TD Bank, where another woman saw what was happening.
“Well, she was running, like grabbing,” Natisha Fournier said.
“I asked her if she was okay just because she looked scared, and then when she turned around, I saw blood on the back of her head,” she said.
Fournier rushed the injured Cheeba into her car and then drove her to a nearby store, where Fournier grabbed some first aid supplies.
“I’m like, ‘Come with me. I’ll get you an ambulance, “Fournier said.
“It was scary, but then I started laughing,” Cheeba added.
Natisha Fournier is pictured. (CTV News)
Fournier says she was happy to be in the right place at the right time to help Cheeba, who ended up going to the hospital for an examination and a tetanus shot.
Cheeba went out the next day to see eagles. However, he says he could avoid taking pictures of this particular predator again
“I was probably tired of him taking the picture,” he joked.
NEST PROTECTION
Experts from the Mountainaire Avian Rescue Society (MARS) in Merville, BC, have another theory.
“He was probably protecting a nest, so he wasn’t hunting, he was just protecting his cubs,” said Gyl Andersen, wildlife rehabilitation manager at MARS.
“Eagles could do a lot of harm if they wanted to, so I was probably just trying to scare her away,” Andersen adds.
“We see it very common with other types of birds, such as crows or crows, even songbirds.”
Cheeba says he will keep a closer eye on his photography subjects in the future.