Pepper Spray Wards off Pesky Bird who Repeatedly Attacked a Runner in Utah

Terri, a longtime runner, carries pepper spray when she runs as a protection against both human and animal attackers. She has only used her pepper spray once and, though she felt like an idiot at the time, it very well could have saved her from minor or serious injury.

When she was living in Tooele, she was out on her normal run when she was attacked by a bird. One of the roads she ran on had a lot of trees. The bird must have had its nest up there, because it was a vicious bird and acted like it was probably protecting its nest.

As soon as she ran by one of the trees, a bird flew out of it and started swooping down by her head. She attempted to ward it off by using her arms to flail at it but it would fly just far enough away to avoid being struck and then would come back and swoop by her head. It did this over and over again – to the point that she started to get nervous. After about a 1/2 mile, she opened her pepper spray and sprayed at the bird as it was flying straight for her head. It fluttered around and then flew away.

Terri said, "Bottom line, I felt like an idiot for using pepper spray on a bird, and I know I looked like an idiot to all the cars driving by when I just kept flailing my arms." She was grateful, however, that she was able to avoid possible injury by scaring away an unrelentingly aggressive animal.