Airsoft guns to scare eagles?

[birdwatcher]

Hi,

Past couple of days, In our area some eagles have started attacking people. Day before yesterday, I was in my balcony taking on my cell and out of the blue an eagle attacked me on the head.

I tried scaring them away with noise made by plastic guns that we use on diwali, but to no effect.
I remember when I was a kid we used to play with 0.45 airsoft pistols that when shot hurts a lot, so I'm thinking of using it to fight back.

So my question is... can I use 0.45 airsoft pistol to hurt eagles without killing them? If not, do you had a similar experience and what did you do?

[Vikram]

You would still be violating Indian Wildlife Act. I hope others can chip in.

Better would be to remove any food items or garbage that must be attracting these eagles. Contact your local Forest Department and WWF or another wildlife related NGO for advice and assistance.

[estousandy]

0.45 airsoft. Wonder what that is.

With such feathers on it, a bird wouldn't even register a BB hit I'm afraid unless it's hit on the head maybe.
Still, there gota be some reason driving them aggressive. Work on the root cause than introduce airsoft equipment to a use it's not meant for.

[Shivaji.Dasgupta]

use a Catapult with some stone chips. more predictable.

[mundaire]

Be really surprised if the described birds are eagles, most likely would be pariah kites which are common in / around all Indian cities - largely due to poor garbage disposal.

Shooting them with plastic BB's will not cause hurt/ harm them in any manner, so technically you should not fall foul of the Wildlife Protection Act or Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. However, it is equally likely to land you in trouble in case an overzealous animal rights activist takes it upon himself/ herself to target you.

Safest course of action would be not to take matters into your own hands, in stead you should complain constantly to the civic authorities about the menace and ask them to clear up the local garbage heap(s) and / or take other measures as they deem fit.

[Sam Kunal]

You can use air pistol with gunpowder
cork.It creates enough sound to scare the bird.But do not aim at the bird or try to harm it.

[birdwatcher]

I didn't realize hurting the wildlife is against law, I thought it applies only to killing.

@mundiare As for whether the eagles are eagles or pariah kites, I'm not sure. That's a good question, I will try to figure it out the answer before I raise the issue with the concerned authorities.

Also will check if the issue is really poor garbage disposal. But I highly doubt it, since our society is really well kept for as long as I remember and we never had this problem unit now.
Meanwhile I will try the Catapult suggestion as a short term solution as it seems to be the only viable approach left.

Thank you guys for such great advice.

[SMJ]

There's a big possibility they are nesting at the moment.The bird that attacked you may have it's nest between your floor and the one above, within the proximity of your balcony. So it may have possibly perceived a threat to it's young when you went to your balcony.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[birdwatcher]

No, no... big no. I'm very sure the eagle is not acting on maternal instinct.
But I do agree with @mundaire about the eagle being of a different species, cause this one specially makes loud noises all day long and attacks anyone in its sight, even the dogs