In the Netherlands, police are teaming up with raptor training company Guard From Above to deploy eagles to take out dangerous drones from the sky.
A video released by the Netherlands' national police force shows an eagle swooping on top of a drone and grabbing it with its claws to tackle it to the ground.
"For years, the government has been looking for ways to counter the undesirable use of drones. Sometimes a low-tech solution for a high-tech problem is more obvious than it seems. This is the case with our specially trained birds of prey," Guard From Above founder and chief executive Sjoerd Hoogendoorn, said in a press release.
As drones become cheaper and more readily available, their use - authorized or otherwise -- is set to rise. But while some hobbyists might be using the devices to make films, other people have more nefarious ideas. Last year, two men pleaded guilty to smuggling heroin by drone across the U.S.-Mexico border. And another case was recorded where police intercepted a drone carrying drugs, tobacco and porn into a state prison in Maryland, U.S. in August.
And in January, a person accidentally crashed a drone onto the lawns of the White House.
Law enforcement have been testing ways to stop dangerous drones from using "signal jammers" to just shooting the flying machines down. But birds of prey could potentially be safer.
"The bird sees the drone as prey and takes it to a safe place, a place where it is not disturbed by other birds or people," Mark Wiebe, innovation manager at the Dutch national police, said in a press release.
Guard From Above trains the birds in an indoor facility in The Hague and said it is still looking into the impact that this kind of activity could have on birds' claws.
The police said that in a few months' time it will make a decision on whether to use eagles to combat drones.
