It was PAW Patrol to the rescue for an adventure-attracting Loon Lake two-year-old and Felix the cat, who presumably only has eight lives left after a potentially nasty eagle encounter was averted by a dollar store helmet.

Leanne Peters, her husband Kevin, and daughters Morgan (four) and Carsyn (two) love living at their ranch in what Leanne calls 鈥渢he heart of the wilderness鈥� at Loon Lake, south of Clinton. The family is no stranger to media attention, however: Kevin is a world-renowned sculptor, while Carsyn created headlines when she made an early arrival in the parking lot of a Cache Creek restaurant in February 2019 as Leanne and Kevin were en route to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops for Leanne to give birth.

Two weeks ago, Carsyn was outside the family home playing with Felix, one of the barn cats that lives on the property. The area plays home to a large number of bald eagles, and Leanne says that the family loves to watch them soaring overhead or perched above the creek that borders their ranch, waiting for their next meal. However, it isn鈥檛 just fish that the eagles go after.

鈥淚n spring especially there are lots of them; we count a dozen in the sky all the time. They鈥檙e always after our ducks and chickens, so we鈥檙e always watching when we see an eagle flying low.鈥�

Cats also attract their attention, and on this day one of the birds clearly had Felix in its sights. Leanne saw one particular eagle diving at a distance, and knew Carsyn was outside, but didn鈥檛 think the bird was going anywhere near her.

鈥淚 thought it was going in the creek. Its feet were down like it was committed to diving, and it was eight feet off the ground when my husband yelled.鈥�

Carsyn loves the family鈥檚 barn cats, and chases them around and plays with them all day. She had been playing with Felix, and was wearing a plastic PAW Patrol helmet that was left over from Morgan鈥檚 birthday party. 鈥淐arsyn isn鈥檛 a huge PAW Patrol fan 鈥� her sister is 鈥� but she loves wearing hats or helmets, thankfully,鈥� says Leanne.

The eagle鈥檚 eyes were zoned in on Felix, and Leanne says it probably only saw Carsyn at the last second, when the girl came out from behind a tree.

鈥淚t turned its head and looked at her, and when Kevin yelled, Carsyn looked at him like 鈥榃hat?鈥� She didn鈥檛 notice the eagle, but the eagle saw her.

鈥淚t was committed, and didn鈥檛 have time to stop, so when Kevin yelled and it saw Carsyn it pulled one foot up, but still had one foot down. It bounced off the helmet and pushed off with that one foot, got its wings going again, and took off. We鈥檝e never had one dive that close to us.鈥�

The blow was strong enough to knock the helmet from Carsyn鈥檚 head and tumble the girl to the ground. 鈥淪he wasn鈥檛 scared or crying,鈥� says Leanne. 鈥淪he just kind of looked up and around and said 鈥楴o!鈥� like she was annoyed that her helmet had been knocked off. Then she said 鈥楰itty hurt?鈥� three times in a row, so I think she knew what had happened.鈥�

Although Carsyn and Felix were unscathed, it was only when they looked at the helmet that Leanne and Kevin realized what a close call it had been.

鈥淎ll four talons made contact; there were four scratches on the helmet. It鈥檚 pretty unbelievable. It鈥檚 a hard plastic helmet. and one claw almost pierced through and put a crack in the helmet. The skin on the top of her head is way softer, so if she wasn鈥檛 wearing the helmet those marks would have been on her head, and we definitely would have been off to the hospital.

鈥淭hey have dirt in their claws so there鈥檚 a risk of infection, even if it鈥檚 just superficial scratches, but those probably wouldn鈥檛 have been. An eagle鈥檚 claws are quite sharp. I can鈥檛 imagine what a disaster this could have been and what a near miss it was. She鈥檚 obsessed with putting hats on, so thank goodness she likes wearing them, otherwise it could have been a very different thing. It鈥檚 scary how if one little detail had been different, how our day or week could have gone.鈥濃��

Leanne says that Carsyn has talked about the incident a little bit since it happened.

鈥淪he鈥檒l hear us talking about it, and chime in 鈥楨agle no hurt kitty.鈥� She also associates the helmet with the incident, and every once in a while she鈥檒l see one of the cats and go 鈥楨agle, kitty, no.鈥欌��

Carsyn also has a word of warning for any nearby eagles she spots.

鈥淲e have eagles flying around here all the time, so she sees them a lot, and will say 鈥楴o!鈥� as if to say 鈥業鈥檓 going to tell that eagle to stay away from my kitty.鈥� She鈥檚 pretty confident and outgoing, and not easily scared. Nothing fazes her.鈥�

Leanne says that even at the tender age of two, Carsyn is getting a reputation for creating good stories.

鈥淥ur tough two-year-old girl saved her kitty, and a cheap dollar store PAW Patrol hat saved her. That鈥檚 our girl. We鈥檒l have to get a bigger baby book for her.鈥�

editorial@accjournal.ca
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