Ol Pejeta, East Africa’s largest black rhino sanctuary, is about to send up an unmanned drone to watch over its endangered guests.
The drone will be able to cover 130 miles during its 90 minute flight time and will track the animals by locking onto radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. It will be fitted with thermal imaging ‘night vision’ cameras, which will allow the presence of animals or humans to be monitored day and night, even under a tree canopy.
The sanctuary hopes the drone will solve the problem of “trying to keep track of endangered species across 36,420 hectares of wilderness and with only a relative handful of rangers,” according to Ol Pejeta’s commercial director, Rob Breare. The conservancy hosts examples of the ‘big five’ – lions, buffalo, elephants, leopards and rhinos, as well as apes and at least 300 bird species.
The $70,000 drone was partially funded by an appeal on charity site Indiegogo, which collected $35,000 for the project.
While it’s not known how effective a drone will be in the fight against poaching, the World Wildlife Fund is investing in similar technology. With $5 million from Google’s 2012 Global Impact Awards program, the organisation’s drones are due to start flying over Africa and Nepal next year.
