Experts flag ecological, privacy concerns over drone deployment for wildlife monitoring
Experts flag ecological, privacy concerns over drone deployment for wildlife monitoring
Publish Date: 2026-06-29 08:08:00
Source Domain: www.thehindu.com
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While drones have emerged as an effective tool for wildlife monitoring and mitigating human-wildlife conflicts, experts caution that their growing use could inadvertently stress wildlife and infringe on people’s privacy.
Although unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, in some cases fitted with payloads such as loudspeakers, are used in several Indian States to monitor wild animals and drive those that stray into human settlements back into forests, the Kerala Forest department currently uses them only for “monitoring purposes”.
Annoyance to wildlife
Experts and scientists note that drone deployment over civilian areas can infringe on people’s privacy, and in forests, it can be an annoyance to wildlife, especially bees, wasps, and birds. Therefore, deployment of conservation surveillance technologies (CSTs), including drones, camera traps and thermal imaging for conservation and wildlife surveillance warrants a second thought.
“Relatively few studies have examined how drones affect wildlife behaviour. Available research indicates that the high-pitched sound of drones, which mimics that of bees and wasps, causes annoyance and disrupts these insects’ regular movements. There are instances of them attacking drones,” says Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan, conservation researcher and practitioner and an adjunct fellow at ATREE, Bengaluru.
Should follow norms
Noting that drones have become a necessary tool for studying wildlife, a Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) scientist, who did not wish to be named because he was not authorised to speak on government policy, says flying them too low, too fast, or too loudly could stress animals and affect their behaviour. “Drone operators should always follow safe flying rules. This includes keeping the drone at a safe altitude, flying slowly at a side angle instead of directly overhead,…
