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London Metropolitan Police Consider Drone-Attacking Eagles

posted by CoolHand on Tuesday February 09 2016, @01:01AM   Printer-friendly
from the avian-attack-wing dept.

takyon writes:

Days after Dutch police released a video demonstrating a trained eagle attacking a drone, other police officials and politicians have registered interest:

The Metropolitan Police have confirmed they're looking into deploying drone-busting eagles, a few days after a Scottish MP called for cops north of the border to investigate the possibility of using feathered interceptors to deal with growing flocks of wild UAVs.

According to the Times, Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe has tasked a chief inspector with seeing if a Dutch talon-armed anti-UAV initiative might work in the UK's capital.

[...] A Metropolitan Police spokesman said yesterday: "As would be expected in an organisation that is transforming we take an interest in all innovative new ideas and will of course be looking at the work of the Dutch police use of eagles."

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  • (Score: 2) by frojack on Tuesday February 09 2016, @02:00AM

    by frojack (1554) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday February 09 2016, @02:00AM (#301106) Journal

    Aren't all eagles on the protected species list (don't know if the UK has such?)

    I can't see this ending well for the eagle even with stock drones, let alone the razor blade drones.
    The first time it gets a claw or beak in the prop will be the last time it attacks a drone even if it isn't seriously hurt.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 09 2016, @02:15AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 09 2016, @02:15AM (#301110)

    Astonishingly, the RSPCA would countenance this plan. Their spokesperson said [bbc.com]:

    In principle we would not have an issue with police forces training eagles in an attempt to tackle drones, although we would have concerns over the welfare of the birds.

    At the moment, however, there is not enough information available for us to be able to make an informed comment.

    National Geographic has come out with an editorial [nationalgeographic.com] against the notion, noting that it's been less than ten years since the bald eagle was removed from the Endangered Species List.

  • (Score: 2) by arslan on Tuesday February 09 2016, @02:17AM

    by arslan (3462) on Tuesday February 09 2016, @02:17AM (#301111)

    Not if they sufficiently armor the raptors. The original Dutch initiative did mention this option, though they didn't go into details.

    It still won't protect against heavily modified drones fitted with fatal melee capabilities, but I would think those are the edge case. I wouldn't think the "growing flock of wild-UAVs" mentioned by the MP were terrorist kamikaze drones.