On Wed, 20 Dec 1995, Don Baccus wrote:

>
> On the other hand, there is the well-publicized incident of
> a Bald Eagle taking a chihuahua from a parking area off the
> AlCan highway a summer or two ago. I'm sure many remember
> the TV interview which followed, with the lady owner on one
> side of an RV sobbing tears and the male half of the couple
> describing just how cool it was.
>
Hey, Don--

I heard that story as well, however, I have not been able to
substantiate it. When I heard it the husband was smacking his
fist into the palm of his other hand, looking aloft, smiling
and exclaiming "Yes!! Yes!!" as though divine intervention finally
came his way and relieved him of one of life's burdens...

I've also seen a bunch of urban legends and recognize this motif.
If you or anyone has documentation of this event I'd be interested
in seeing it as I've learned over the years in my conversations with
Jan Brunvand, U. of Utah prof and author of several books/collections
of Urban Legends, including The Vanishing Hitchhiker,
(The little ghost girl by the side of the road) Choking Doberman,
(bad guys fingers lodged in dog's throat) The Mexican Pet (tourists
bring a rat home from Mexico thinking it's a dog) there are many
myths out there in the media as truth..example: I saw one in the
Seattle PI about a hunter in Iran that tried to kill a snake with
the butt of his shotgun..the snake coiled around the trigger and did
in the hunter...this one appeared again..same motif different animal..
in an advertisement for Wild Turkey whiskey...in this one the turkey
did in a Turkey!.. Brunvand has a very large collection of these
stories that were sent to him from all over the world..and many of
them were actual newspaper clippings

Meanwhile, I'll shoot Jan a note and ask what he knows about this one.

Tom