Mark Wiebe, innovation manager for the Dutch police, said eagles’ natural behaviour could be exploited to ensure a unsafe drone is taken to a safe place.
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Scotland Yard is considering using eagles to hunt and take down drones operated by criminals, amid concerns that the pilot-less aircraft can be used to smuggle items and drop explosives by terrorists.
According to The Times, the force’s commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe is considering the crime fighting tactic already used by officers in Holland.
The Metropolitan Police expressed their interest a week after the Netherlands released a video of the bird they trained to seize drones.
Eagles are just the latest and rather novel proposed solution to policing the skies.
Dutch police puzzling over how to remove drones that pose a public safety threat are testing a way to get the job done in one fell swoop – with trained eagles.
They can be used to spy on homes, to find potential burglary targets, and they have also reportedly been used to deliver drugs and other contraband into prisons.
In a statement issued by the Guard from Above company, who train eagles and have worked alongside the Dutch police, said: “The animal instinct of a bird of prey is unique”.
If successful, the use of eagles in modern law enforcement could translate into a low-tech solution for a high-tech problem.
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But ornithologist Geoff LeBaron, director of Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count, said: “I suspect they can see exactly where the rotors are better than we could”. While drones and their owners are quite the modern pain in the arse, fleets of attack birds flying about the city might be even more of a menace.
