Massachusetts man attacked by owl while walking dog: "I got whacked!"
MEDFIELD - A Medfield man says he got "quite a jolt" when an owl attacked him while he was hiking with his dog Monday night.
Ken Wadness, 66, says he was out at the Noon Hill Reservation and wearing a headlamp to see in the dark when the white owl swooped very close to his Bichon Poodle named Micah. Shortly after, the owl came back and went after Wadness.
"I got whacked with his talons on the back of the head," he said. "And it was hard."
The impact left him bleeding, but he says his headlamp prevented a more serious injury from the owl's sharp talons. He's relieved it wasn't worse and that the 11-pound Micah is OK.
"He definitely could've gotten my dog, killed the dog with the strength that he had," Wadness said.
Wadness, a nature photographer, also got footage of the owl.
"It just stared at me," he said. "It was something that was so surreal, I had to take a photograph."
Wadness described the encounter as "fascinating," but will be more careful on future hikes to stay out of the path of this particular owl.
"I respect the owl. It's their habitat that I'm in," he said. "So I have no problem with what happened, but I'm going to try and avoid the area when I run at night."
According to the National Audubon Society, injuries from owl attacks are rare but they can be very territorial when preparing to nest.