Massachusetts man attacked by owl after it tried to swipe his dog

A Massachusetts man was left bleeding after an owl attacked him while he walked his dog.

Ken Wadness, 66, was with his poodle, Micah, Monday night on the Noon Hill Reservation Trail in Medfield when a white owl swooped near the dog.

Then the owl came back around and attacked Mr. Wadness with its claws, leaving him scratched on his scalp and bloodied. His headlamp helped prevent further injury.

“Man, when that thing hit me, he was flying full speed right into the back of my head. It was quite a shock,” Mr. Wadness told The Boston Globe Thursday.

Mr. Wadness believes the owl might have been aiming to take 11-pound Micah as prey.

“He definitely could’ve gotten my dog, killed the dog with the strength that he had,” Mr. Wadness told WBZ-TV, Boston’s CBS affiliate.

The Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife told The Globe that the bird was  specifically a barred owl, which preys on rodents and small dogs.

Mr. Wadness, a nature photographer, snapped a picture of the owl before it flew away.

“There’s a lot of trails in Noon Hill. And I think what I will do is I’ll just avoid that area, just to respect his territory — especially at nighttime,” he told WBTS-TV, Boston’s NBC station.