Caught on camera: Eagle stalks cat through yard

Footage of an eagle following a cat through a Cambell River, B.C. backyard is raising concerns among local pet owners. (Facebook)

It’s the kind of video that can send shivers up a pet owner’s spine.

Footage captured in the Vancouver Island community of Campbell River last week shows a bald eagle stalking a scared cat through a backyard.

The eagle is seen landing as its feline prey flees onto a nearby fence. The two animals pause for a few seconds before the cat runs out of view with the eagle apparently giving chase.

Jasmine Meyers, whose cat Emo Joe was carried away by an eagle last year, said the encounter should serve as a warning to pet owners.

“It does happen,” she said. “They’re actively hunting all the time. You’ll see actual warnings online all the time to get your pets in because the eagles are hunting now.”

There have been other sightings of eagles swooping down on unsuspecting cats in the community recently, but this appears to be the only instance caught on camera.

Meyers said she never used to worry about Emo Joe because she thought the 22-pound cat was too big to become a target.

“We always assumed he would be safe,” she said. “It was also a huge wakeup call because we have dogs that are smaller than him, and so we can’t even let our dogs out at this point without babysitting them.”

A webcam monitoring a bald eagle nest in Pittsburgh also recently captured a grisly moment where a bird fed what appeared to be a dead kitten to its eaglets.

The group behind the webcam, the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, said it might not be comfortable to watch, but eagles bring squirrels, rabbits and other animals into the nest multiple times a day. It also noted that cats that are allowed to roam outdoors kill huge numbers of birds.

With a report from CTV Vancouver Island’s Gord Kurbis