A drone, fitted with a camera, is being used to help the Forest Department track and fight forest fires, prevent poaching and help in mitigating human-animal conflicts in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR).
K.K. Kaushal, field director, MTR, told The Hindu that the state-of-the-art drone camera, purchased at a cost of ₹9.6 lakh, will prove to be a very important surveillance tool in the tiger reserve.
“It will be deployed in a variety of roles, to monitor the extent of forest fires, as a surveillance tool to prevent illegal entry into reserve forests by poachers and also during instances of human-animal conflict,” he said.
Forest officials said that the drone, which has a range of eight km and which can fly at an altitude of 800m above the ground, will be tested in the tiger reserve in the coming weeks.
“During this season, we expect that it will be used primarily to monitor forest fires,” said an official, adding that the use of the technology will improve the efficacy of the Forest Department in identifying the location where the fire first started.
“As this will improve our response time, we will stand a better chance of finding the source of the fire, whether it was natural or man-made, and even catch persons who may start fires on purpose,” said the official. It could also be used to remotely track the location of an animal from a safe distance, he added.
K. Periyasamy, assistant conservator of forests, has been tasked with imparting training to the forest rangers and field staff at the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve to use the drone cameras effectively.
Training has already begun, with lessons on how to use the drone taught alongside other training modules in preventing forest fires in both the core and buffer zones of the tiger reserve, officials said.