A large octopus tangling with a bald eagle looked like an unfair fight, but John Ilett was at first ready to let nature take its course.
The scene played out about 4 p.m. Monday, when work was just finishing up for the day at a Mowi Canada West fish farm near Quatsino.
鈥淲e heard lots of splashing and a screeching sound coming from behind one of the float buildings,鈥� said Ilett, manager of the fish farm. 鈥淲hen we went around to investigate, we saw a full-sized eagle completely wrapped up in a giant octopus 鈥� something that you don鈥檛 think you鈥檒l ever see.
鈥淚鈥檝e seen octopus and I鈥檝e seen eagles, but I鈥檝e never seen them grappling like that.鈥�
Ilett said he wasn鈥檛 sure how to respond.
鈥淎t first, we鈥檙e just watching and we didn鈥檛 know if we should intervene or not, you know because it is Mother Nature,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut we were watching this and the octopus was trying to drown the eagle, and we couldn鈥檛 just stand there.鈥�
So Ilett made contact with the octopus using a pike pole, 鈥渁nd basically peeled it off the eagle.鈥�
That was enough for the eagle to make its escape.
鈥淚t gave the eagle enough time to swim to shore and dry off, so at the end of the day, both animals are alive and parted their ways,鈥� Ilett said. 鈥淲e actually felt pretty good about ourselves stepping in.鈥�
He said he is privileged to see a lot of wildlife in the remote area.
鈥淚鈥檝e been out here a long time, and through my job out here, I get these amazing opportunities to see Mother Nature, but this one probably ranks pretty high on my list of cool things to see.鈥�
One thing that came as a surprise was the sheer size of the octopus, he said.
鈥淚t was probably over four feet long,鈥� said Ilett, who suspects the two creatures became entangled after the eagle flew down to try to make a meal of the octopus.
鈥淚t tried to grab it with its talons and didn鈥檛 realize how big it was, and the octopus just wrapped it and was basically trying to dive under the water with it.
鈥淚t was a pretty amazing situation, for sure.鈥�
