Even Anti-Drone Eagles Can’t Escape the 2022 Tech Layoffs

The Swiss weren’t the only ones trying to turn nature on tech either. Several European countries, including France and The Netherlands, similarly explored training their own eagle warriors.

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In France, the Royal Air Force reportedly raised four eagles, named after characters from The Three Musketeers, tasked with the sole purpose of tackling small drones mid air. Those birds, Vice notes, were reportedly hatched atop the wreckage of dead drones which instilled them with an instinct to seek out and destroy drones as a food source. The U.S. Air Force, meanwhile, reportedly conducted its own study on raptors back in 2017 to investigate the ways they could potentially be used to defend against drones that could threaten soldiers or police.

Switzerland’s newly out of luck eagles arguably have it even worse than many other of their Patagonia wearing cousins in Silicon Valley. While many laid off tech employees can simply fall upward into similar positions at a rival company or potentially hop on to a growing startup, anti-drone eagles are at risk of professional extinction.

The Netherlands, which had its own search and destroy eagles, reportedly ended its program in 2018 due partly to costs and concerns raised from animal rights groups. Though prominent anti-drone eagle trainers like Guard From Above say the eagles aren’t at risk of injury when wrecking their mechanical prey, the practice nonetheless raised concerns from animal rights groups and falconer Robert Muster, who told the NL Times in 2016 he worried professional drones’ fast propellers, “will make mincemeat out of an eagle.”

The potential danger isn’t limited to eagles either.

“If an eagle can not catch his prey, he may become so frustrated that he picks up something else,” Muster said. “Eagle talons are so strong that it can easily pierce a child’s head.”

On second thought, maybe it’s about time those winged beasts consider a career change.