Viewers left horrified during live stream of eagle's nest

Eagle Brings Cat to Nest for Eaglets
Eagle Brings Cat to Nest for Eaglets


A live stream from an eagle's 'nest cam' left viewers feeling a little queasy - when one of the birds brought a cat for her eaglets to feed on.

Pet owners in Pittsburgh were no doubt checking on their own pets when they saw the poor moggy becoming the eagles' dinner.

See also: Brothers free bald eagle caught in a trap (video)

See also: Fisherman rescues drowning bald eagle in Canada (video)


The eagle pair's endeavours are live streamed through Pix Controller, and the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania took to its Facebook page to remind people that nature "isn't always kind or pretty."

The society said the cat was probably already dead when it was brought to the nest, and added: "While many may cringe at this, the eagles bring squirrels, rabbits, fish (and other animals) into the nest to eat multiple times each day.

"To people, the cat represents a pet but to the eagles and to other raptors, the cat is a way to sustain the eaglets and help them to grow."

The bald eagle is both the national bird and national animal of the United States of America.

It is a bird of prey found in North America, with its range including most of Canada and Alaska, all of the contiguous United States, and northern Mexico. It is found near large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply and old-growth trees for nesting.

The bald eagle subsists mainly on fish, which it swoops down and snatches from the water with its talons. But, as evidenced here, it is an opportunistic feeder, and eats birds like pelicans and ducks, reptiles likes turtles, and mammals, like rabbits, squirrels, beavers, deer fawns, baby seals - and cats.

It builds the largest nest of any North American bird and the largest tree nests ever recorded for any animal species, up to 4m (13ft) deep, 2.5m (8.2ft) wide, and 1 metric ton in weight.






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