Here’s the latest about the unethical involvement of animals in the puerile affairs of Homo sapiens. France is training eagles to attack terrorist drones. The idea of training animals for the purpose of taking out enemy military hardware isn’t new. Military dolphins^ were around since last century. At least there are some arguably ethical uses for dolphins, such as finding people lost at sea. France seems to think that the eye-sight of eagles is perfect for spotting and taking out “terrorist robots”:
This will only lead to “the terrorists” creating more dangerous drones (perhaps those that can shoot back), or simply to make them look different. I’m guessing humans can outsmart eagles in camouflage. Even if a nation-state manages to deploy “eagle squads” in every major city, available 24/7, it is still unlikely that much can be done against a well-organized drone attack.
I’d be more concerned regarding a drone-war between nation-states rather than terrorist drones. Nation-states can easily build more drones than France can train eagles, unless everybody starts having a pet eagle (perhaps that’s the plan?). I wonder what happens when one of those eagles confuses somebody’s beret for a drone…
It’s all just another case of senseless exploitation of another species. Just another pointless experiment wasting tax-payer money. It’s not even ground-breaking since training attack birds isn’t exactly a new thing. Sure, these eagles have a better life than creatures involved in intensive animal farming^, but really, can’t they build drones to fight drones? And yes, I think PETA^ are too soft :). But I wouldn’t go as far as calling myself an ALF^.
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