OK, so you’ve heard the one about the student’s dog eating his homework, right?
Well, the students down at MacNeill secondary — or at least the ones that were in the playground Thursday lunchtime — have an actual, ready-made excuse for not handing in their homework.
Around 1:30 p.m., MacNeill teacher Ramon Klose was in his computer lab when a colleague shouted to him that an eagle was “attacking” the kids in the playground.
His interest piqued and being a little concerned for the kids, Klose made his way outside.
And although any apparent “swooping down on the kids” had since ceased, sure enough, a giant bald eagle had commandeered a student’s backpack in front of a stunned 100 or so-strong audience.
“It had managed to get hold of a backpack but it couldn’t lift it,” said Klose, who teaches social studies, photography and CAD (computer aided design).
“I’ve seen them in the general area before, but never seen one of them this close or do anything like this.
“Another teacher managed to get the backpack away from the eagle. It was impressive to see, though.”
Someone from the school later alerted Ladner-based OWL (Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society), worried that the bird may be injured.
However, after sending out a volunteer to check it out, the bird was found to simply be feeding on something — it’s not clear if it was something from the backpack — and flew off when approached.
And despite the apparent drama of the day, Rob Hope, senior raptor rehabilitator at OWL, said it was highly unlikely that the eagle was swooping down on the kids to attack them.
“They have been known to play with soccer balls but it would be very, very unusual if it was, in fact, attacking the students; I have trouble believing that,” said Hope.
“They can be quite intimidating with their six-foot wing spans, but it’s more likely it was going for the backpack, rather than the person.
“An adult (eagle), especially, would know better than to get that close to people. I’ve never heard of an eagle attacking a person before.”
