Equip Forest Guards to Protect Wildlife in India

Human and wildlife are getting pushed into closer, more dangerous proximity as wild spaces shrink and fragment. This often results in wildlife dispersing out of their niche and right into a deadly collision course with humans.  Human-wildlife conflict (HWC) is a conservation issue that needs immediate addressal.  

In India, the two big cats i.e. the tiger (Panthera tigris) and leopard (Panthera pardus) are reported to be in high conflict with humans. Among the Indian state, Uttar Pradesh witnesses numerous cases of human mortality and injuries inflicted by these big cats. As per a study, between 2003 and 2010, around 42 people died and 39 injured at the hands of various individual tigers and leopards. An additional 474 cases recorded for the same period, have resulted in livestock deaths. Increase in the human population and their enhanced penetration into forests is largely responsible for the rise in this conflict.

WTI in association with Uttar Pradesh Forest Department (UPFD) has formulated conflict mitigation teams in proximity to the PA’s (Tiger reserves, National Parks) and other forested areas. These teams are called upon when big carnivores venture into human settlements and causes conflict. Though effective on many fronts, an urgent need was felt to equip this carnivore conflict mitigation team with new methods of addressing conflict.

WTI equipped the Dudhwa TR forest team with a quadcopter (a type of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle/UAV) which will be an effective tool to help the conflict management team in their work of action. By getting nearer to a ‘conflict’ animal than people often can, the drone with its bird eye view will easily cover a large distance of the conflict area, remotely identify the location of the animal and help the team to strategize procedures for tranquilizing and rescue, without any risk of casualty to the team as well as the individual animal.

The quadcopter has been handed over to Mr. Mahaveer Kaujalgi, Deputy Director of Dudhwa Tiger Reserve. Basic guidelines were provided on how to use quadcopter in field by Mr. Mayukh Chatterjee, WTI.  It was also mentioned by Mr. Chatterjee, how a quadcopter can be used for crowd management during conflict and for patrolling the area. This will help in surveillance of human wildlife conflicts and monitoring in Dudhwa National Park and adjoining areas, Uttar Pradesh.