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Eagle survives crash through truck windshield
By SCOTT SONNER, Associated Press Writer Scott Sonner, Associated Press Writer – Thu Mar 5, 6:53 am ET
RENO, Nev. – The eagle has landed — with a thud — after crashing through the windshield of a tractor-trailer on a Nevada highway. State wildlife officials said Wednesday that a 15-pound golden eagle with a 7-foot wing span has a swollen head but otherwise appears unhurt after crashing into a Florida truck driver's big rig on Monday.
Matthew Roberto Gonzalez of Opa Locka, Fla., was driving on U.S. Interstate 80 in northeast Nevada near Wells, about 60 miles west of the Utah line, when the eagle came crashing into the cab of his truck.
"I heard a loud thump like a brick or something coming through the glass," said Daryl Young of Miami, the co-driver who was dozing in the sleeper berth when it happened. "I woke up, and the windshield was all over me. Next thing I know there was a big bird lying on the floor."
Joe Doucette, a spokesman for the Nevada Department of Wildlife, said it appears the eagle hit the windshield head first.
"One side of the head is swollen, but there does not appear to be any permanent damage," he said.
"The guys in the truck immediately bailed out because it was one ticked off bird. She was pretty feisty," Doucette said. "Even the officer who responded didn't want to go in there so we had one of our wildlife biologists do it."
The eagle was recovering at the Northeast Nevada Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Spring Creek, and Doucette said the goal was to release it back into the wild.
Jeffrey Spires, owner of Spires Trucking of South Florida in Miramar, Fla., said he thought his drivers were kidding when they called to report the damage.
"Never in trucking history," he said.
Buck Goes Man-Hunting
NORTH VERNON, INDIANA - “When hunter Jim Mick went into the forest to bag himself a deer, he never expected to come out and empty-handed - and badly bruised.
The 69-year-old bow hunter was treated for injuries he said he suffered during a wrestling match with an angry buck. Mick said the deer attacked him Monday while he was hunting alone in south-central Indiana.
“He came out of the tall grass and briars,” said Mick. “When I realized it, he was on me already.”
Mick said the buck, which weighed about 150 pounds, struck him in the chest and gored his thigh. “All I had time to do was throw my hands up and grab his antlers,” he said.
After about a 10-minute struggle, the animal relented.
“It was probably a draw, but I think I got the worst of it,” Mick said. “I don’t think he had any gouge marks on him.”
Associated Press
Nov. 12, 2004