Vienna - An eagle shocked an elderly Austrian woman on Saturday when it swooped down and snatched her handbag, police in the Tyrolean town of Kundl said Sunday. The tamed Bald Eagle was apparently looking for food. Several days earlier, buzzards had hunted after the eagle while it was in the air, and the bird had not returned to its owner, a professional falconer.
The 69-year-old woman was walking with her family when the bird of prey robbed her bag, landed nearby and started rummaging through it for food.
"She got the shock of her life," Kundl police officer Lambert Autengruber said. The eagle mistook the brown bag for that of its owner, as that is where its food is normally stored, he explained.
The female bird was returned to the falconer after crashing into a white van similar to the model driven by its owner.
