Melissa Schlarb expected a routine commute to her bank job in western North Carolina. Instead, her morning turned into something she still can’t quite believe: a cat fell from the sky and crashed through her windshield.
As improbable as it sounds, it happened.
Schlarb, 28, was driving toward Cherokee on a highway that runs alongside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park when she noticed a bald eagle gliding overhead, according to CNN affiliate WLOS. At first, the sight felt like a rare, beautiful moment — until she realized the bird was carrying something.
“I’m not used to seeing them there, and I was like, ‘Wow, that’s amazing,’” she told WLOS. “I realized it had something with it. Once I realized it was a cat that it had, it barely had a hold on it, it dropped it right on my windshield. It sounded like a bomb went off.”
The cat was already dead when it landed in her car. It isn’t clear whether the eagle intentionally released it or simply lost its grip, but the impact was violent and immediate.
“I could see the cat in my passenger seat. I have guts all over me, there’s glass everywhere,” Schlarb said. A driver behind her pulled over, told her he had watched the entire sequence, and helped guide her safely off U.S. Highway 74.
Still in shock and covered in blood, Schlarb called 911 to report what sounded like a scene from a surreal thriller.
“You may not believe me, but I just had a bald eagle drop a cat through my windshield,” she said in the recorded call. “It absolutely shattered my windshield.”
The dispatcher, caught off guard but steady, responded with a brief laugh before reassuring her.
“OK. I do believe you, honestly,” the dispatcher said in a recording obtained by The Associated Press. “Oh my goodness. Let’s see. I’ve heard crazier.”
Kendrick Weeks, supervisor of the Western Wildlife Diversity Program for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, told the AP the cat may have been roadkill that the eagle picked up.
“But they can take animals the size of a cat,” Weeks said. “It is much harder for them to take a live cat than a dead cat. They usually don’t prey on something they don’t find palatable. And scavenging is a common behavior in bald eagles.”
Weeks added that raptors can lose or drop prey for several reasons: an insecure hold, a struggling animal, harassment from other birds, or simply carrying something too heavy for too long.
Bald eagles, a threatened species native to North Carolina and much of North America, have been steadily recovering in the state. Weeks noted that more than 200 nesting pairs now live there. Adults generally weigh about 6.5 to 13.5 pounds and have wingspans of roughly 6 to 7 feet.
Schlarb says she’s grateful she wasn’t hurt — and can’t stop thinking about how close it came to being far worse.
“I just thank God that it wasn’t a different scenario,” she said. “Even a shift a little bit more in my direction, that could have landed in my face. It could have been a completely different story. I may not even be here at this point.”
