Barely a month after South Africa launched its aerial drone program in the iconic Kruger Park, 55 potential poachers were caught sneaking around the park.
When I was just 11 years old, my South African father took me to Kruger Park for the first time… and I was hooked. Addicted to wildlife and addicted to Africa. Kruger is home to lions and elephants, Cape buffalo and zebras, and much more. But what sets it apart, and the rest of South Africa, is its rhino population: the country is home to 80% of the global rhino population, of which more than 17,000 white and 6,000 black rhinos.
Unfortunately, this distinction also makes parks like Kruger a prime target for poachers. In traditional Asian medicine markets, rhino horns can bring $400,000 per kilogrammaking them more valuable on the black market than elephant ivory or gold. Rhino poaching in South Africa has increased 9,000% between 2007 and 2022. Last year, it was estimated 420 rhinos were killed; so far this year, more than 35 rhinos were killed in Kruger alone.
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)Kruger Park is “ground zero” for poachers. Calling it a war zone, it is estimated that there are 12 gangs in the park at any given time. Kruger presents a number of challenges for wildlife managers. It is home to a relatively large rhino population, but the park is one of the the largest game parks in the world, which makes tracking rhinos and other animals there laborious, time-consuming and dangerous; Poaching gangs are often well armed and ruthless. As in much of South Africa, a single ranger may be tasked with patrolling as many times as possible. 62 square miles of territory, much of which features dense vegetation and difficult terrain. The park's wildlife itself, from elephants to lions, can also pose a threat to rangers and their work.
But just as they revolutionized many aspects of modern life, from package delivery to warfare to humanitarian aiddrones are transforming anti-poaching strategies. Aerial drones allow rangers and researchers to expand their monitoring work to much larger areas of parks and protected areas. Unlike ground patrols that attempt to navigate their way through the bush, drones are not. dissuaded or slowed down by difficult terrain. Since more and more drones are equipped with infrared camerasthey can monitor rhinos – and poachers – more effectively in the dark, when poaching most often occurs.
The first results of the Kruger Park drone program are promising. In just its first month, 55 potential poachers were caught sneaking around the park. In the months that followed, overall poaching activity and attacks on wildlife continued to decline. In some places, solar energy necklaces have been added to help monitor rhino movements.
Some drones have even been equipped with AI softwarewhich helps them detect changes in a rhino's behavior. For example, if an animal runs while it is normally sleeping, ranger teams are alerted that something could threaten the animal's health or well-being. Augmented drones provide both an exact location for a ground team to respond and video that records what is happening. Using precise locations and real-time representations of conditions, drones allow officials to quickly accomplish their tasks in a way that causes minimal disruption to other wildlife and habitat in the affected area.
The introduction of drone technology in wildlife management is not a perfect solution to the problem of poaching in Africa. First, many countries either ban or lack the regulatory framework to safely allow the use of drones in their airspace. In 65% of countriesusers need special permission to use drones for conservation purposes, and only half of the 54 countries in Africa have a complete regulatory landscape for the use of drones. There are also financial barriers to the use of drones in Africa. License fees are 10 times on average higher than in the United States. Additionally, the initial cost of purchasing drones can be significant. Large game parks, where most rhinos live, often require drones with batteries powerful enough to last six to eight hours. These can range from $50,000 to $250,000 per drone.
For countries and governments with tight budgets and pressing development needs, $250,000 is a lot of money. But for rhinos, the most critical situation in the world endangered species, these drones could simply be, as the old advertising slogan goes, invaluable.
This blog was researched and written with the help of Caitlyn Shrewsbury.
