back to article The eagle has been grounded: Dutch anti-drone squadron retired

The Dutch police's scheme to use eagles as drone-intercepting assistants has turned out to be as successful as the British skier who shares their name. The theory was, according to police spokesman Marc Wiebes, that "the bird sees the drone as prey and takes it to a safe place, a place where there are no other birds or people …

  1. Hans Neeson-Bumpsadese Silver badge

    Good, but must try harder

    Such a pun-rich article, but you missed the obvious opportunity to refer to them as legal eagles

    1. Korev Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: Good, but must try harder

      "you missed the obvious opportunity to refer to them as legal eagles"

      Who would get called up in front of The Beak

  2. Chris King

    "Now that the Dutch coppers have made their bald announcement, it remains to be seen if the Britons still consider the scheme a golden opportunity".

    Hey look, everybody's jumping off that bandwagon - plenty of room for us !

    I wonder where it's headed ?

    1. m0rt

      Interceptor drones. Obviously.

      I can see it now! Drone chases over crowded city skys. Police drone with blues and twos hollering away.

      5 years time, look like a scene from Bladerunner.

  3. lafnlab
    Facepalm

    Are you falcon kidding me? I can't accipiter that you forgot to work in your carrion-eating mascot. You hawk to be ashamed of yourselves.

    1. tony72

      True, but it was a funny article anyway, in fact I was positively owling with laughter.

    2. tiggity Silver badge

      Upvote for accipiter!

  4. chivo243 Silver badge
    Facepalm

    From the beginning

    Just a Bird Brained idea... chaaaw!

    1. tony72

      Re: From the beginning

      Yes, I'm still trying to get my head raptor-ound the idea that they ever thought this would work.

  5. WibbleMe

    To be fair it was not a bad idea, trouble is the will know the difference between a plump pigeon and drone

    1. Korev Silver badge
      Coat

      You'd have thought that they carrion until they know

    2. jmch Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      "To be fair it was not a bad idea"

      Yes, top marks for trying something new, even if it didn't work out

    3. Chrissy

      Those props are very, very sharp and very, very fast

      Yes, it was a very bad idea.....

      Regardless of the Wedge-tailed eagle video from another poster, having recently purchased a couple of quads I'm very aware of how much power and therefore "lose a finger in a millisecond" bone-slicing capability these things have beyond the single propped fixed wing aircraft I've been using up til now; a good quote I read was they are "mini blenders of death".

      I reckon they sent a few of these raptors up to retrieve test drones, and after the 5th returned trying to land on the bloody stumps that were all that remained of its claws, they realised the Dutch version of the RSPCA would go apeshit crazy if they found out.

      Example or the power in a drone prop:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4shbLB9U7Q

      Trust me, there is no way any raptor could intercept any multicopter with a 100% safety record for its entire lifetime.

      The first bird - dead, with its body a lacerated mess from 4 sharp props spinning at 10,000 rpm - dropping out of the sky into an open air concert would have killed the project dead even if they had gone live with it.

  6. Cuddles

    Simple solution

    Instead of mucking around with transponders and other ways to try to regulate drones, just mandate that all drones must be shaped like pigeons.

    1. Tim Seventh
      Thumb Up

      Re: Simple solution

      just mandate that all drones must be shaped like pigeons

      along with the feature, droppings delivery.

  7. Semtex451

    Fully Operational

    The rats here work a lot harder than the humans, and have a better standard of personal hygiene.

    While we are an equal opportunity employer, I'm sorry I will be interviewing more rats and fewer humans.

    1. BebopWeBop

      Re: Fully Operational

      Talking to your rats - third sign of madness....

  8. The Real Tony Smith
    FAIL

    This is on a par with getting dolphins to find sea mines

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Or Russian anti-tank dogs (allegedly)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        That's nothing compared to the North Korean anti-submarine whales.

        1. Alistair
          Windows

          @AC -

          would that be the NKS Jimmy Whales?

  9. RachelG

    "For now though, it would seem that, contrary to the teachings of the novels of JRR Tolkien, there are some tight spots that not even eagles can get you out of."

    The eagles were fighting their own war! ;-)

  10. imanidiot Silver badge
    Facepalm

    And another boatload of tax euros wasted.

    I'd find it funny if vast the majority of my wages didn't go to taxes and a vast part of those taxed didn't then go to funding stupid ideas like this. (They were told from the start it wouldn't work).

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    When do they start training money badgers to sniff out hidden ecoins?

    1. Not also known as SC
      Joke

      'When do they start training money badgers to sniff out hidden ecoins?' You don't think this might be the real reason the government are so keen to cull badgers???

  12. RandomFactor

    Just give the drones wedgies!

    The idea probably came from Down Under - the Wedge Tailed Eagles there shred drones as a hobby.

    Glance away for a second and it's too late to save your drone...

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2017-05-24/wedge-tailed-eagle-takes-down-drone-over-wa-wheat-farm/8554120

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr-xBtVU4lg

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Cross that career option off the list

    I was hoping to get out of a job where I am insulted every day by people who ignore my advice and blame me for them not talking my advice (yes, I work in IT), to a job where I deal with predators with straightforward intentions.

    The good thing about being a falconer is that the only competition for the job are a bunch of Kazakh (or is that now Qazaq?) and Altai eagle hunters. Since they are much more skilled and cooler than me, I would not be irritated if they beat to the job.

  14. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

    I've a solution

    Mandate that UAVs either look like, or wear, little cyclists helmets, and then let loose a population of Australian Magpies. You'll have clear skies in no time.

  15. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

    You would have thought that the Dutch police could have pivoted the project over to mounting honking huge lasers onto the heads of sharks.

    Make them powerful enough and they could even reach the German border as a last, best line of defense[1]..

    [1] Yes, yes, I know, best friends in Yurope, no more war etc etc. Or at least, not until AfD takes power and goes to war with France and the rest of Europe..

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