Soaring eagle to film the Alps’ crumbling glaciers as Earth warms
- White-tailed eagle named Victor will make five flights through Germany, Austria, Italy and France with camera mounted between its wings
- Organisers hope images will draw attention to climate crisis and inspire people to protect animal habitats
The images will be stunningly beautiful yet also hint of dire future consequences. Filmed with a camera mounted between its majestic wings, they will show how a white-tailed eagle named Victor sees the world as it flies over the Alps and captures its once-magnificent glaciers now crumbling because of global warming.
Their wasting away is unlikely to be a pretty sight. And that is the whole point.
Victor will embark upon five flights this week over the Alps. Organisers hope his spectacular eagle’s-view footage will help jolt the world out of climate-change apathy and toward swifter action to combat its effects.
His handler hopes that seeing the world as an eagle sees it will also convince viewers of the importance of protecting birds and their environments, especially after a devastating recent report chronicled their decline.
“Humanity has two dreams: to swim with dolphins and fly with eagles,” French falconer and Freedom Conservation founder Jacques-Olivier Travers said. “This is the first time that we’ll really ride on an eagle’s back over such distances and such vistas, and see how he flies.”