A bald eagle dropping a full-grown cat through a moving car\u2019s windshield sounds like something from a Looney Tunes cartoon. However, one North Carolina driver had to live it stone-cold sober on a Wednesday morning. <\/p>\n
She was cruising along U.S. Route 74, near the edge of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, when her day veered straight into folklore. The unidentified woman sounded understandably rattled when she called 911, as a\u00a0recording<\/a>\u00a0later shared by the\u00a0Associated Press showed<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cYou may not believe me, but I just had a bald eagle drop a cat through my windshield,\u201d she told the dispatcher. \u201cIt absolutely shattered my windshield.\u201d<\/p>\n The dispatcher didn\u2019t blink. \u201cOK. I do believe you, honestly,\u201d she said, then let out a laugh that only someone working emergency calls in Appalachia could deliver. Another witness apparently watched the drop, telling the driver it was \u201cthe craziest thing\u201d he\u2019d ever seen.<\/p>\n Driver Tells 911 a Bald Eagle Just Threw a Cat Into His Windshield\u00a0<\/p>\n Once the dispatcher sent Highway Patrol, she asked the question no one wants to ask but must. \u201cIs the cat still alive?\u201d The driver confirmed it wasn\u2019t, adding that the animal had ended up on the roadside, not in her lap. \u201cI have to ask just to make sure,\u201d the dispatcher said.<\/p>\n Why a bald eagle would drop a cat mid-flight is something state wildlife officials actually have answers for. Kendrick Weeks, who oversees the Western Wildlife Diversity Program for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, told AP that the bird could have been carrying roadkill. <\/p>\n \u201cBut they can take animals the size of a cat,\u201d he said. Live cats are harder to handle, but scavenging is common. Eagles also drop prey when the grip slips, when something is too heavy, or when another raptor starts harassing them.<\/p>\n Bald eagles are native to North Carolina, and their numbers have been climbing. Weeks noted that the state now has more than 200 nesting pairs, with adults weighing up to 13.5 pounds and stretching wingspans up to 7 feet. Large enough to make mistakes dramatic.<\/p>\n Anyone who\u2019s driven through the mountains knows the wildlife there plays by its own rules. Still, having a national symbol fling a cat through your windshield sits in a category of its own. It\u2019s absurd, terrifying, and somehow very fitting for North Carolina.<\/p>\n