Eagles are known as glorious birds of prey. Fact. They are not as well known for being crime-fighting heroes. Also fact.
However, this may be about to change as the Government has suggested that eagles could be given an unlikely promotion – as prison drone interceptors.
Speaking in the House of Commons, prisons minister Sam Gyimah said: “The new threat by drones is a game changer.”
He explained how eagles could be used to take down the rising amount of drones smuggling drugs and other contraband into British prisons.
And although this does sound far-fetched, Dutch police are already successfully using this method.
Figures obtained through a Freedom of Information (FoI) request earlier this year revealed that there were 33 incidents of drones detected in or around prisons in England and Wales in 2015 – up from two the year before and none in 2013.
But Bill Oddie, who used to present Springwatch, rubbished the idea, dismissing it as “pie in the sky”.
He said: “That sounds like absolute poppycock to me.
“Why on earth would an eagle attack a drone anyway? I can’t see why any bird of prey would suddenly think, ‘Oh, I wonder what that is? I’ll go and eat a drone this morning instead of something else’. It doesn’t make any sense at all to me.”
All things considered, you’ve got to admit – if it works, it’ll be pretty brilliant.