A bald eagle beat the crap out of a government drone mapping the shoreline of Lake Michigan. It ripped off its propeller and sent it plunging to the lake’s bottom.

The agency operating the drone murdered by an eagle goes by the acronym egle. The agency operates the drone’s murder weapon.

egle environmental air quality analyst and drone pilot hunter king was using the drone to map shoreline erosion. The drone started spinning as it was headed for home, King says,’like a really bad rollercoaster ride’.

It’s not unheard of for eagles to attack drones. If the drone attacked it could have been a fight for territory.

Over the past several years, erosion and flooding along Lake Michigan have led to habitat destruction and disruption to its ecosystem, as well as property damage.

There are 849 active bald eagle nesting sites in Michigan, according to a 2019 US Fish and Wildlife Service survey. That’s up from the low point of just 76 sites in the 1970s.

The Michigan department grew out of a 2019 restructuring of the State Department of environmental quality. The agency, also called deq, was widely criticized for its role in the Flint water crisis.

The department said the destroyed drone was a $ 950 DJI Phantom 4 Pro advanced, and it’s given up the search, leaving the drone to its watery grave. A spokesperson said egle was looking into whether it might be able to issue a citation to the’rogue eagle’.