Fact Check: Viral video showing a crow attacking and pulling out the eye of a woman is misleading
olonged screen exposure can cause several eye problems. Symptoms like blurred vision, dry eyes, eye strain, headaches,
woman's eye pulled by a bird
Prolonged screen exposure can cause several eye problems. Symptoms like blurred vision, dry eyes, eye strain, headaches, neck and shoulder pains, etc Giving regular breaks from digital devices and spending time with nature is said to have a positive effect on the person especially the eyes. Five minutes walking in nature is said to improve mood and reduce any anxiety. Physical activity in green spaces reduces stress and lowers cortisol levels.
Meanwhile, a video of a bird attacking a woman walking on the street is in circulation online with the implication that the aggressive bird has pulled out the eye of a woman. The beginning of the video shows a crow holding an eyeball with its beak. Later, we see a bird flying and pecking a woman, the whole incident is recorded by the woman using her phone. The caption goes “Do wear Goggles outdoors. Sunglasses not only protect you from Sunlight, dust, and wind but also protect you from these aggressive birds.”
Fact Check:
The claim is Misleading. The bird seen in the video is not a crow or raven. The bird did not pull out the eye of the woman in the video.
When we searched for the image showing a raven/crow holding an eyeball, we found that the image is an old one and was shared by the nature picture library. The image is uploaded to the library in the year 2014. The caption states ‘Raven feeding on the eyeball, Black Forest, Baden-Wutterberg, Germany. ‘
According to an article published in News.com.au in November 2023, the woman seen in the video is a fitness influencer from Australia, Sarah Jade. She was swooped by a Peewee bird and was pecked at her eye. The bird can be seen embedding its beak deep into Ms Jade’s eye socket. She said she didn’t initially realize what the bird had done until she reviewed the footage shared to her nearly 200,000 followers on TikTok.
According to Yahoo news Australia, published on November 2023, Sarah Jade detailed the traumatizing incident in a TikTok post, admitting how she did not realize how close she came to losing her eye. In the original clip which went viral, she can be seen looking up while speaking to the camera before a black and white bird suddenly hits the right side of her face, prompting her to shriek and hold her arm up to her face. Sarah said her eye was red and “so irritated” afterward, and her Google search about birds and the bacteria they can carry led her to “spiral”. She continues before urging people to be on the lookout for “stupid birds” during swooping season and that she will no longer go on walks without a hat and sunglasses. The article also states that many viewers commented that the bird was in fact a peewee — otherwise known as a magpie-lark — not a magpie. Despite its confusing name, the native birds are not related to magpies or larks.
Hence, the claim that the viral video shows a crow plucking the eyeball of a woman taking a walk is Misleading. The video is an old one showing a bird called Peewee attacking an Australian woman and injuring her. But the bird did not pull out the eyeball of that woman.