Kevin Also Blogs: Game of Thrones could use live eagles to solve its drone problem

Monday, November 21, 2016

Game of Thrones could use live eagles to solve its drone problem

(Photo: EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images)

In The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the eagles are always around to save the day for our heroes. And just like in Middle Earth, the eagles might save the day for Game of Thrones producers looking to stop spoilers from leaking out all over the internet. Security firm G4S, which currently guards the show’s sets in Northern Ireland, admits that drones operated by people hoping to sell pictures of filming activity are a problem. With the price of drones dropping and the technology getting more sophistocated, the problem is only getting worse. The production has previously banned drone activity around its sets, but with spoilers leaking at a furious pace, more may need to be done.

That’s where the birds of prey come in. Dutch Police are currently testing the use of live eagles in the battle to combat aerial drones, and the results of their experiments are being monitored worldwide by other police forces and security firms, including G4S. “We are trying to keep up with the technology just like everyone else,” said Noah Price, the company’s head of solutions development. “It is a huge challenge for everyone in the security industry.”

A young eagle trained to catch drones displays its skills during a demonstration organized by the Dutch police as part of a program to train birds of prey to catch drones flying over sensitive or restricted areas. (Photo: EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images)

Which not a perfect fit, we hasten to point out that the sigil of House Arryn is a falcon, so using live birds would be thematically appropriate for Game of Thrones. There are also all those ravens…this show loves its birds. And although we love our spoilers around here, the thought of eagles knocking drones out of the sky sounds pretty awesome.