No, an eagle did not disrupt a live broadcast of ODM leader Raila’s rally by snatching a drone flying above the stadium. - iVerify Kenya

No, an eagle did not disrupt a live broadcast of ODM leader Raila’s rally by snatching a drone flying above the stadium.

False

Users on social media wondered if this was a real photo or if it had been photoshopped.

This is in fact a genuine photograph of an eagle catching a drone. It was captured in March 2016 by photographer Koen Van Weel and shows a trained eagle from the “Guard from Above” company wrapping its talons around a drone during a police exercise in the Netherlands.

On August 6, 2022, the photo went viral, with claims that an eagle had grabbed a drone filming the final Azimio la Umoja Campaign rally, disrupting live coverage of the event at Kasarani Stadium.

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Verified Aug, 08 2022

Claim

An eagle disrupts live coverage of Azimio la Umoja One Kenya presidential flag bearer Raila Odinga’s rally after it grabbed a drone flying above the stadium.

Rating Justification

The iVerify Network of Fact-Checking Desks has fact-checked this content and established that it is False.

To arrive to this conclusion, the iVerify Network of Fact-Checking Desks has conducted the following process. We discovered on May 28, 2016, the New York Times published a video of the eagle demonstrating the ability of a trained eagle to catch a drone in mid-flight.

A reverse image search revealed that the image is also available through Getty Images, with the caption “An eagle of the Guard from Above company, grasps a drone during a police exercise in Katwijk, on March 7, 2016. The bird of prey can get drones from the air by catching them with his legs.”

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