Pregnant Dog Owner Fights Off Giant Eagle That Attacked Pet During Walk, Canine 'Almost Blinded'

A pregnant woman saved her pet dog from an eagle after the bird tried to snatch the canine during a walk in Essex, a county in southeast England, on Monday morning.

Speaking to local media, five months pregnant Marika Smith said she was walking her pet when the bird tried to snatch the canine. She kicked the bird twice and saved her dog, a Jack Russel-Pug cross.

Recalling the incident, she said, “I was just walking Tiny this morning when she got attacked by the biggest bird I've seen in my life, I'm 99 per cent sure it was an eagle. It got hold of her and I had to kick it in the chest so many times for it to let go with her and then it attacked again. It landed on my dog and she was screaming and crying. I was trying to get it off my dog and it took a few seconds, but those seconds felt like a life time.”

Luckily, a woman driving by stopped and helped Smith fight off the bird.

“The bird then came back and attacked my dog again. I tried to kick it away and my dog was covered in blood,” she said.

The dog was left with injuries to the eyes and was “almost blinded.”

“Tiny's fine now but was very distressed and slept for most of the day,” Smith said.

Meanwhile, Smith said the bird may be an escaped pet.

“The woman who stopped also said it looked like an eagle. It has a blue ring around one if its legs, and a big beak, claws and its wings were bigger than me. I think it's definitely belonged to a human at some point because it didn't seem too bothered by the presence of humans."