A camera set up in eastern Russia caught a golden eagle swooping down and attack a deer.

The camera was set up by biologists to catch photos of tigers, when it instead took photos of the eagle attack, Los Angeles Times reports.

The photos were published in the Journal of Raptor Research and the Wildlife Conservation Society, and is the first bit of proof that raptors attacked Asian deer.

Wildlife biologist Linda Kerley, of the London Zoological Society, said, "I've been assessing deer causes of death in Russia for 18 years - this is the first time I've seen anything like this."

Kerley and colleague Jonathan Slaght have been researching Siberian tigers in the Lazovskii State Nature Reserve and infrared sensors attached to cameras are designed to take pictures of any wandering cats.

Kerley discovered a ravaged deer body nearby one of the camera sites. "Something felt wrong about it."

"There were no large carnivore tracks in the snow, and it looked like the deer had been running and then just stopped and died."

Discovery notes that the attack was quick as the camera only caught two seconds of the attacks through three photos, but it clearly showed a golden eagle attacking a young deer.

The pictures were taken back in December 2011.