Keonjhar: The Forest Department has deployed thermal drone cameras in some forest ranges in Odisha’s Keonjhar district with a view to avoiding man-animal conflicts.
Thermal drone cameras were first deployed in the Champua range in December last year to track and monitor the movements of elephants during the night with a view to ensure the safety of the animals and diminish casualties. Now, the facility has been launched in the Patana and Ghatagon ranges of the Keonjhar district.
According to reports, the safety of elephants has been a major concern for the Forest Department as well as the wildlife activists as deaths of animals are being frequently reported from various parts of the district.
Use of thermal drone to prevent and mitigate man-elephant conflict in Keonjhar forest Division#elephant rescue#monitoring-census@CMO_Odisha @moefcc @PCCFWL_Odisha @pccfodisha @susantananda3 @rameshpandeyifs @DistAdmKeonjhar @spkeonjhar pic.twitter.com/TOuAgyHRzW
— Divisional Forest Officer, Keonjhar (T) (@DfoKeonjhar) March 13, 2023
“Keonjhar has been witnessing an increase in man-animal conflicts, leading to the house and crop damage and human casualties. Elephant deaths have also been reported in the district. Monitoring the movement of the pachyderms has always been a challenge for us amid the several infrastructure hazards like railway, electricity and open well. Use of pesticides is another problem,” Keonjhar DFO Dhanraj Hanumant Dhamdhere told the media.
He added that the department has been endeavouring to upgrade the monitoring system as early warning and voice message systems, biking, daily foot patrolling and daytime hazard analysis could not provide real-time data. “We have been using the thermal drones for the last five days. The drone detects the live objects through their body temperature and those are flashed on the computer screen. It gives us a proper count of a herd and also the number the calves,” he said.
The DFO said that drones are also being used to drive the herd away from a potential danger area. “The drones, therefore, are not only helping us to know the herd composition and to drive them in a desirable direction but also to prevent casualties among forest staff,” he added.
