Sometimes it’s annoying that people are walking around all the time with cameras at the ready. It means you could get caught with no makeup and dirty hair in the back of someone’s Instagram pic at Starbucks, and it means you’ve got to accept that what you say could pretty much always be recorded.
But, on the upside, we randomly manage to capture things like this epic battle between an octopus and a bald eagle on film.
Image Credit: Twitter
Spoiler alert, for the sensitive among you: the eagle loses, but he also lives.
A group of salmon farmers off the Canadian coast of Vancouver Island stumbled across the fight after hearing screeching and splashing. They found an adult bald eagle being drowned by a giant octopus, and for a while, filmed without interfering.
They told CNN that they weren’t sure at first whether they should step in, but in the end, couldn’t help themselves.
“We weren’t sure if we should interfere because it is mother nature, survival of the fittest. But it was heart wrenching – to see this octopus was trying to drown this eagle.”
The fisherman say they are “used to seeing the wonders of nature around them on a regular basis,” but “knew this was a once in a lifetime experience.”
The octopus was unharmed and they said the eagle flew away after 10 minutes or so recovering on a fallen branch.
People have been pretty amazed by the footage, and applauded the fishermen for their quick thinking – at least, for the most part.
https://twitter.com/wiggiest/status/1204922566420250626?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1204922566420250626&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.iflscience.com%2Fplants-and-animals%2Fbrutal-fight-between-octopus-and-bald-eagle-caught-on-camera%2F
Some think they should have let nature take its course, but those people obviously have no hearts – and fisherman John Ilett agrees.
“Am I at fault because I’m human and I felt compassion for the bird? At the end of the day both animals are alive and well and they went their separate ways and we feel pretty good about what we did.”
I don’t know about you but I, for one, am glad this story has a happy ending.
Also? If this had happened in the air, my money would have been on the eagle. It’s all about home field advantage.
