Shocking video appears to show a giant eagle swooping down and trying to fly off with a toddler

MONTREAL - A viral video appears to show a giant eagle trying to fly off with a human baby, and now people are trying to determine if the video is real.

A man posted the video on the website Youtube. It appears to be shot with a camera phone.

The video starts with a skyline pan of a large eagle in the sky. After a few seconds, it swoops down to the Montreal park below, where a parent and child are in an open grassy area.

While the parent is distracted, the bird seemingly catches the toddler in its talons and tries to fly off.

Before the situation got any worse, the bird dropped the toddler about five feet off the ground as the parent ran over.

It is at that moment the camera operator runs over, taking the camera off the family. What happens in those ten seconds is unknown.

When the camera operator reaches the scene, the child appears to be unharmed. He was wearing a heavy winter coat, which may have prevented serious talon-related injuries, if the attack is real.

The eagle appears to be a Golden Eagle, which does live in North America. It can be three feet tall with a wingspan of up to seven feet. The Golden Eagle typically hunts rodents, but is also known to hunt larger mammals like foxes and young deer, goats, and sheep.

The video has gone viral online, and many are questioning its authenticity in online blogs. The video is the only one the Youtube user posted on the site, and the user joined Youtube the day the video was posted.

The video can be watched here: http://5.wews.com/gdNvk .