Motorist in North Carolina tells 911: 'I just had a bald eagle drop a cat through my windshield'
Source: AP
By COREY WILLIAMS
Updated 7:18 PM CST, November 21, 2025
A motorist in western North Carolina escaped injury when the carcass of a cat crashed into the passenger side of her front windshield along a highway near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
In a call to 911, the unidentified driver on U.S. Route 74 in Swain County, near Bryson City, told a dispatcher that a bald eagle dropped the cat. Bryson City is about 65 miles (104 kilometers) southwest of Asheville.
Its not clear if the feline slipped from the eagles talons Wednesday morning or was discarded simply because the big bird didnt have a taste for it.
You may not believe me, but I just had a bald eagle drop a cat through my windshield, the incredulous driver said on the recorded 911 call. It absolutely shattered my windshield.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/bald-eagle-cat-windshield-north-carolina-c3fdb9978ffe5ca347f2008d660adc07
twodogsbarking
(17,023 posts)brakester
(510 posts)fly into my windshield and shatter it while I was driving at highway speed. It was quite a shock. Lucky it wasn't raining. I had a windy ride home that day, though!
mdbl
(7,912 posts)FailureToCommunicate
(14,579 posts)Baitball Blogger
(51,548 posts)Trueblue Texan
(4,073 posts)Baitball Blogger
(51,548 posts)GJGCA
(185 posts)...and felineous assault, to boot...
Baitball Blogger
(51,548 posts)AllaN01Bear
(28,214 posts)HariSeldon
(533 posts)mwooldri
(10,767 posts)BWdem4life
(2,898 posts)Oh, the felinity!
ms liberty
(10,848 posts)The driver checked, he said he would have saved it if he could.
tavernier
(14,134 posts)Did they do a scan?
ms liberty
(10,848 posts)If not, look at the hole in the windshield.
tavernier
(14,134 posts)Cat Scan.
ms liberty
(10,848 posts)rurallib
(64,462 posts)I think I would have.
ratchiweenie
(8,146 posts)IronLionZion
(50,492 posts)mwooldri
(10,767 posts)Botany
(76,021 posts)I assume the cat was out hunting and became the hunted one. I dont think it worked out well for the
cat.
area51
(12,544 posts)travelingthrulife
(3,998 posts)allegorical oracle
(6,063 posts)saw that a struggling young eagle was on a collision course with my car. Traffic was light enough that I could stop. The eagle was carrying the biggest red hen I've ever seen.
The chicken was dragged across my hood and the eagle's left wing-tip brushed my windshield. No traffic was to my left, and the eagle fortunately gained altitude.
As perfect as they are, our raptor friends sometimes overestimate their skill level.
S/V Loner
(9,476 posts)Bald Eagles can only carry about 4 lbs.
NickB79
(20,194 posts)My cats get to chatter at the patio door while the chickadees and cardinals feast in the feeders.
There's also a certain irony in the fact that the most destructive bird killing species introduced to North America was itself killed by a bird.
Lifeafter70
(739 posts)They love it
NNadir
(37,012 posts)Attacks by predatory birds was listed as a reason, along with being killed by cars, for doing so.
In this case, both seem to have been involved.
We adopted a mother cat and her son. The mother, who apparently came from a shelter after having been abandoned or run outside in heat in an urban area, has no interest in going outside ever again
Her son, by contrast, is interested in doing so and we have to actively restrain him from it.
Martin68
(26,746 posts)chipmunks, flying squirrels, shrews, and lizards. Twice we came home to a live bird flying around the house that he brought in through the cat door (probably a gift for us to play with). Since then, all our cats have been indoor only. Besides cars and large bird attacks, outdoor cats are exposed to diseases and parasites from other cats and animals, as well as coyotes.
Zambero
(9,905 posts)The cat had a characteristic hop that might have passed him off as a rabbit to the owl. He was attacked at dust and despite talon wounds he dispatched the owl and made a meal out of him. By morning there wasn't much left of it.
Martin68
(26,746 posts)generalbetrayus
(1,426 posts)I started doing that, I saw something swoop down out of the sky at a squirrel just outside my window. The squirrel did not react, but the raptor must have seen me at the window because it swooped up again just as it reached the squirrel without grabbing the squirrel.
Bayard
(28,037 posts)I had a turkey fly into my windshield in Calif. I was coming down the mountain, and it just burst up out of the brush. The guy behind me pulled over behind me. He had 4 or 5 kids in his truck. He asked--Are you going to keep that? I said, hell no! He threw it in the back of his truck and drove off.
not fooled
(6,553 posts)The Bob K jokes are obvious here.
Bayard
(28,037 posts)Sneederbunk
(17,061 posts)Response to Omaha Steve (Original post)
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