Golden eagle that attacked toddler in Norway ‘probably had a behavioural disorder’

A young golden eagle attacked a toddler in Norway, clawing him so badly that he had to have stitches. According to an ornithologist, this was probably the fourth attack of this kind on humans for the bird in the past week.

The bird's unusual aggressiveness occurred over five days in a vast mountainous area in southern Norway.

The golden eagle – widespread in Norway and the Scandinavian country’s second largest bird of prey – typically feeds on smaller animals as well as foxes and sheep.

The bird was killed after attacking the small child.

The golden eagle “probably had a behavioral disorder” that triggered the attacks, Alv Ottar Folkestad, an eagle expert at BirdLife Norway, told the Associated Press on Monday.

“What happened is radically different from the norm,” he said, adding that the attacks were likely all carried out by a female eagle born this year.

“Details in the plumage lead me to believe it is the same bird. The plumage means that no two golden eagles are the same,” Folkestad said, adding that the past few days had seen “favourable weather conditions” with high-altitude winds, allowing the eagle to fly long distances over southern Norway.

In the latest attack, a 20-month-old girl was playing outside a farm in Orkland, a small municipality in the south, on Saturday when the eagle came “out of the blue” and bit her with its talons.

The girl's father, who was not present during the attack, told Norwegian broadcaster NRK that the mother and a neighbor were fighting with the eagle.

The father said his daughter had several stings on the back of her head and had scratch marks from the eagle's claws under her chin and on her face.

The newspaper VG reported that one of the wounds was located directly under one of the girl's eyes.

The girl and her mother are doing well.

Neither the toddler nor the family have been identified and they have asked not to be contacted, NRK said.

Police said they were aware of the attack but had no further knowledge of the incident. However, a game warden had been contacted.

Three other people reported being attacked, including a man who captured the incident on camera.

“I fell to my knees because I couldn’t stand.”

Armed with a branch, her husband managed to chase the eagle away.

The claws penetrated deep into Mrs. Myrvang's flesh and she was later given penicillin and a tetanus shot in hospital.

The golden eagle is between 80 and 93 cm long (about 2 feet 7.5 inches to 3 feet) and has a wingspan of about two meters (6.5 feet).

The male is the smallest and weighs between 3 and 4 kg (6.6 to 8.8 pounds).

Females can weigh up to 5 kg (11 pounds).