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Possibly did not want the risk of littering bullets on the runway as well; it’s actually impressive the amount of effort that goes into keeping a runway free of small metal objects: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_object_damage

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Unless the drone is really large, you don't need to shoot actual bullets at it. Strings, fishing nets, plastic bags, water cannons, or anything else that can mess up the propellers for a few seconds would be enough to crash them.

That's a good point. We haven't actually seen what a full response from the authorities would be. I would imagine if there was actual imminent danger they would not hesitate to begin shooting down the drones and using more disruptive countermeasures.

I actually kinda wonder if you can train any birds of prey to go after drones. Airports already use some so keep birds away from runways, but that's still mostly the birds doing what birds do.

This has already been shown to be possible. Example from the Netherlands police:

https://youtu.be/b5DEg2qZzkU

In the meantime it's been found to be impractical https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/12/16767000/police-netherla...

Seems dangerous for the birds.

Maybe attack drones that can shoot string - since practically every drone uses rotors.

Dragging a net has been tried:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/01/21/tokyo-poli...

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