If we ever needed persuading that animals are smarter than technology, we should take heed of the drone-fighting eagles. Scotland Yard is examining the deployment of bald eagles by Dutch police after a private security firm demonstrated how the mighty birds can deftly pluck a drone out of the sky.
The drone featured in the video I’ve watched is a pretty feeble-looking specimen. The eagle easily avoids the blades and takes its plastic prey away for a mauling. Dutch police say this solution is less hazardous than shooting down drones that deliver drugs to prisons or menace planes (UK authorities recorded 30 near misses with aircraft in 2015).
The superpowers of animals have long been used in conflict, from bomb-sniffing dogs to the mine-detecting dolphins unleashed by the US navy. Homing pigeons carried crucial messages during both world wars; one of the only ways the enemy could disable these speedy messengers was to attack them with hawks, as the German army attempted during the Franco-Prussian war.
Wild things have an intrinsic right to existence, regardless of the functions they may perform for us, but drone-fighting eagles are a useful reminder that we can’t possibly predict the future utility of wild animals – or plants – and we would be wise to preserve as many of them as possible.
In Britain, this means letting birds of prey back into our landscapes, as James Macdonald Lockhart argues in Raptor, a new book published this week. Hen harriers continue to be illegally killed for eating grouse before we can shoot them ourselves, and many people hate resurgent buzzards and red kites, wrongly blaming them for disappearing songbirds.
Put simply, prey species – food supply – will ultimately determine the number of predators, and so a sparrowhawk in your garden shows small birds are thriving. Here’s hoping that drones make excellent prey for a new band of crime-fighting eagles.
No, it’s not a perfect storm
“Chaos as Imogen sweeps in” perfectly describes my niece’s impact on my brother-in-law’s living room. Imogen celebrated her first birthday in style on Sunday, just as Storm Imogen gathered a 96mph momentum off western Britain. I like this new naming of things, but if a truly deadly storm strikes I’ll feel sorry for the people whose names will be forever tarnished with carnage. The Met Office is publishing this season’s list, so Katies, Lawrences, Marys, Nigels, Orlas and Phils can start getting anxious now. Storm Steve has a particularly nice ring to it but for every Steve’s sake, I hope it will be a harmless blow.
Democracy felled
Sheffield’s authorities have chopped down nearly 3,500 street trees in the famously leafy city in recent months as part of a £2.2bn, 25-year contract to “improve” its streets with private contractor Amey. The trees are being cut down because it is cheaper to plant saplings that require no maintenance than prune mature trees, such as the lovely cherries recently hacked down on Spurr Street. After months of the Labour council ignoring petitions, street marches and expert evidence, residents have temporarily halted the chainsaw massacre in the high court. With crowd-funding, they are now seeking a judicial review of the council’s flawed consultation and failure to conduct an environmental impact assessment of the whole project. Why is a democratically elected council so deaf to the will of residents (and not an unsubstantial minority, either)? Campaigners believe the reason lies in the small print of its contract with Amey, which has so far been kept secret. It’s not just the treeless streets that look dismal in Sheffield – so does local democracy.