Muhammed Enes Yildirim/Anadolu Agency/Robert Alexander/Getty Images
After being repeatedly attacked by birds, home delivery drones in Australia were forced to be shut down.
Wing, a delivery service operator, said it would wait until researchers assessed the birds' behavior.
One of the attackers said that it was only a matter time before a drone is destroyed.
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The Canberra Times reported that a drone delivery service for home in Canberra, Australia was temporarily closed down because ravens kept attacking its devices.
Since 2019, Wing, which is owned by Alphabet, Google's global company, has delivered everything to Canberra residents, including coffee, medicine and office supplies.
It announced that it would suspend its services Tuesday due to several reports of ravens landing on the drones. This announcement comes as drone delivery demand is increasing due to Canberra's coronavirus lockdown.
Ben Roberts, a local resident who orders coffee every day with the service, captured the latest attack on video and posted it online.
According to him, it was only a matter time until they brought one down. They believe it's Terminator or some other thing.
Drones can also be attacked by magpies and other birds such as hawks or wedge-tailed Eagles.
The video can be viewed here
Wing stated that he had identified birds in the area that were showing territorial behavior and swooping on moving objects in a statement to local customers. According to ABC News Australia,
"While nesting season is a common time for this, we are committed as strong stewards to the environment and would like to have Ornithological Experts investigate this further to ensure that we have minimal impact on the birdlife at our service locations."
The company spokesperson also stated that contact with birds is rare among the thousands of drone deliveries.
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According to The Times, the spokesperson stated that "in the unlikely event that any bird makes direct contact to our drone, we have multiple levels redundancy built into operations to ensure we are able to continue flying safely."
A spokeswoman for the Canberra Times stated that "service will temporarily be paused to a small number our customers in Harrison during these times."
Neil Hermes, an ornithologist, told ABC News Australia that ravens can be territorial but have never attacked drones.
Hermes stated that they will "swoop dogs and other activity around their nests but attack drones is new."
UAV Training Australia's chief pilot and instructor Wayne Condon told the network that drone operators should not nest in known locations.
"At the end, it's their skies, and we are the visitors." If you act quickly enough, you will be able save your plane and not injure it! Condon spoke to The Canberra Times.
A 5-month-old baby died last month in Brisbane, Australia after his mother dropped it to avoid a swooping magpie.
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