A Nanaimo man is hooting and hollering about an owl attack in a local park.
Ludwig Meyer got into a flap with an owl in Colliery Dam Park this morning.
Meyer told the News Bulletin he had begun walking back to the parking lot at the lower dam to retrieve a pair of sunglasses from his truck when an owl ambushed him.
“All of a sudden I get attacked by an owl from behind,” he said.
Meyer said after the owl flew away, he went back to the spot where he had been fishing. As soon as he caught a fish, the owl returned.
“I finally catch a fish and I pull it in. I have it in my hand and the owl comes and swoops the fish right out of my hand,” he said.
He said the owl took the fish and went into a nearby tree where it ate some of it and then flew away.
“It was unreal,” he said.
Although the owl didn’t do any serious damage, Meyer did have scratch marks around his finger and hand.
Vivian Thomas, communications director with the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource, has never received a call or heard of an owl attacking anyone before, but said owls can be aggressive if people are near their nests.
“It’s a strange story,” she said.
An owl sits in a tree at Colliery Dam Park. Meyer claims the owl attacked him twice. (Photo/Ludwig Meyer)