Drones in the sky have rocketed in number as the flying devices have become more popular among civilians, creating more situations when authorities are required to take down the unauthorized gadgets above places such as government buildings and sports stadiums. A Danish company is training eagles and falcons to help the Dutch National Police force to safely take down the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in mid-flight.
For centuries people have used eagles in Asia to hunt prey. They were chosen to hunt drones due to the sharp eyesight, powerful claws and excellent hunting skills.
Guard From Above (GFA) is the company that is training the eagles. It claims it is the first company in the world to train birds of prey to take down hostile drones, according to The Washington Post.
The company that mostly works with global security agencies is teaming up with the Dutch National Police to train the big birds. A trial program is testing if the birds of prey are a good option for intercepting drones.
GFA's CEO Sjoerd Hoogendoorn said in a released statement that sometimes a low-tech solution is the best way to fix a high-tech problem. That is the case with its trained birds of prey.
Project spokesman Marc Wiebes told Dutch News that the large birds take the drone to a safe place with no humans or birds. That is a key feature of the project.
A police spokesperson explained to Dutch News that the bird-training is in a testing phase. However, it is very likely that they will use the birds to combat drones.
Dutch National Police are studying other anti-drone tech to use with the large birds. They include nets and electronic methods that could include radio jamming, according to Tech Crunch.
The Dutch National Science Institute is making sure that no birds are harmed while training them to catch illegal drones. This issue is important to animal rights groups.
Other nations' law enforcement agencies are also trying to determine the best ways to catch drones. Tokyo Police released a video clip last month that showed them using large drones with big nets to trap smaller drones in flight.
Here's a trained eagle taking down a drone: