“Immediately I realized that they shot at the drone so I flew higher up and started slowly bringing the drone back to me. On the way back it continued to wobble here and there and when it landed I found a missing propeller, a pellet hole, and scratches on the front of the drone also caused by the pellet,” he said, also submitting photos of the damaged drone.

Given that he was shooting footage using a drone, he was quite far away from the area from which he thinks the shot came from, but Spiteri thinks that it was a hunter that shot at the drone.

“90% of the time, a drone is flying not to spy on people like many out there think and fantasize. Most drones are equipped with a wide-angle and it needs to be approximately 10 metres close to the subject to get a photo of somebody that is recognisable,” Spiteri explained. 

“Although in this particular case I feel that they shot on the drone either because they thought it was from an environmental NGO like CABS or not to scare the birds away so that they can hunt,” he said.

Asked whether he filed a police report over the ordeal, Spiteri explained how he didn’t think it would make much of a difference.

“No, I did not file a police report – I don’t have much hope in filing a police report because they always come up with all sorts of excuses and that they cannot do anything unless caught doing the act on camera,” he said.

Have you ever encountered anything similar?