That’s one piece of advice a pair of fighting eagles could have put to good use last weekend when Pennsylvania resident Rebecca Weaver found them in quite an odd predicament: stuck floating atop the frigid waters of the Susquehanna River with their talons sunk into one another.
“The eagles’ talons were actually latched onto each other’s skin and feathers,” Weaver told The Dodo. The birds’ wings were sprawled out atop the water, and it appeared they had been firmly stuck like that for hours. Clearly helpless, the pair just looked up at Weaver while she contacted the police for help.
“The eagles were likely fighting in the sky over territory and dropped to the ground near the river where they continued their battle,” Deiterich said in a statement. “They seem to have tumbled into the water and would not, or could not, let go of their grip on one another.”
An hour indoors in the heat was all the pair needed to thaw out, and eventually they both released their grip on one another. Neither of the birds was injured, so Deiterich opened up a bay door and let the eagles fly their separate ways into the night — as if nothing had ever happened between them.
While many are calling Weaver a hero for taking action to save the birds, she says her family is just happy to have settled the animals’ dispute without either of them getting hurt.
“Everyone that was involved at our house was very happy and proud to be a part of the rescue,” Weaver said.