Police in Holland are serious about developing anti-drone capabilities, and they've now trained eagles to take down the unmanned aircraft.
As tech website
The Verge reported, a demonstration video (below) released Sunday shows one such eagle swooping down on a drone, snatching it in its powerful talons, and slamming it into the ground.
"The bird sees the drone as prey and takes it to a safe place, a place where there are no other birds or people," program spokesman Marc Wiebe
told The Register (UK).
The eagles are not native to the Dutch police force, but are in fact a partnership between officers and raptor training company Guard From Above.
While the birds have hefty talons, trainers are for now testing drones whose rotors are not going to hurt the bird. They are currently drawing up ideas to protect the birds from more heavy-duty rotors.
While the anti-drone eagles are coming along in their training and seem to be effective, Dutch police are also testing other anti-drone technologies.
They are piloting drones that "fire at or capture an enemy drone," and are also developing a kit that can "remotely take over control of a drone."
As The Verge noted, these birds are not the first to take down a drone.
One viral video from this past year showed a wild bird of prey take down a drone, and another showed a monkey bating one out of the air with a stick as it flew by the animal's tree. Other documented anti-drone animals include kangaroos, gorillas, geese, and, of course — man's best friend — dogs.
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