African Countries Making Use of UAVs in Wildlife Conservation

In April 2017, China closed its ivory processing features. At the end of 2017, it banned trading in ivory. However, the demand for African elephant parts for homeopathic medicine and exotic foods still existed. To tackle the trading issue between Asian buyers and African poachers, Kenyan game parks began monitoring vast expanses of land that were difficult to patrol by ground.

Game rangers could not be everywhere at once, which meant that poachers could poach at any time. Since poachers usually operated at night, catching them was an impossible task. However, that impossible task became possible with thermal and infrared imagery. These drones could detect movement from above by tracking the heat signatures of humans and animals. 

Once drones detected any suspicious activity, the rangers were alerted, and armed personnel were dispatched to the suspicious site. This allowed them to apprehend the poachers before a kill could be made.  Besides alerting rangers and authorities to the crime of poachers, data capturing also helps locate wildlife in the vast and open spaces of conservation parks. 

After Kenyan wildlife conservation implemented drone technology, South Africa also adopted drone technology in a bid to stop the slaughtering of rhinos in its country. In addition, drones helped curb poaching when utilized with other surveillance systems.