The Forest Department carried out a demonstration of the unmanned ariel vehicles (UAV) and multicopter fitted with cameras over the Najibabad forests on Tuesday afternoon to consider its use in the tracking of the stray tigress of Moradabad.
Conservator Moradabad Kamlesh Kumar while talking to The Pioneer said that they would take a decision after the demonstrations were complete on whether to use these higher technical approaches for zeroing in on the location of the tigress. “There are several varieties in the aerial options. These unmanned aerial vehicles which have still cameras can get a photograph of the area and can be used to locate the animal. We will take a decision on this after the demonstrations,” said Kamlesh Kumar.
Although the conservator admitted that the the forests were too dense for helping with these high technical devices, he admitted that they were a good option. “It is true that the forests were dense but they were a good option when it comes to moving in areas which are difficult for human patrolling,” said Kamlesh Kumar. On being asked the cost of these devices, the Conservator said, “The demonstrations are for free and if it is decided that these will be used for tracking the tigress then also it will be done for free” he said.
Meanwhile, wildlife conservationist Kartick Satyanarayan when asked by The Pioneer about the various high technology options which are used world over for tracking animals informed that remote controlled drone involves an aircraft which is programmed with a route. “This device which is called a remote controlled drone has a transmitter and a wifi transmitter and a thermal camera. For an effecting coverage it has to go on a multiple route to record the images which then have to be played back to find the animal. The whole process is cumbersome and expensive too,” said the conservationist.
He suggested that one of the other high technology that could be used was a thermal camera fitted on a jeep. “Thermal cameras are used for night photography for they are sensitive to heat and can give the image of any animal whether it be a rabbit or tiger. One has to take the jeep into the forest and get the imaging of these animals,” said the activist. He said that better than these technologies was the option of keeping multiple traps at a distance of five kilometers with cages having the recorded voices of tigers or tigress. “This is much more effective and recorded voices of a tiger or a tigress could help attract the stray tigress. There is also an option of keeping a cloth dipped in tigers urine in the cage which is more effective than a bait,” he said.
Commenting on the stray tigress Satyanarayan said that it was for sure that the tigress was suffering from some form of injury or disease. “It could be either a porcupine injury in its mouth or some dental infection or some tooth problem. It will turn to a maneater only because it is the slowest animal and she is left with no other option,” he said.