Cheap drones give elephant protectors a new tool against poaching

Drones are increasingly the technology of choice in warfare and surveillance, but they're also quickly working their way into other pursuits.

In fact it seems barely a day goes by without someone developing a novel use for a remote-controlled aircraft.

Among this week's highlights, drones are now being enlisted in one of the world's epic efforts to protect wildlife.

“We bought a drone,” says Marc Goss of Kenya’s Mara Elephant Project. “The cheapest one you can buy.”

The drone cost $300, and the organization has put it to work in the fight against a huge surge in elephant poaching across Africa. In Kenya alone, more than 16,000 pounds of ivory have been seized on its way out of the country in the last few months.

The elephant project hasn't been able to match the firepower of the poachers, but it has discovered that cheap drones can at least be helpful in moving elephants out of harm's way.

“What we use it for, this technology, is really to scare elephants out of areas where people are growing crops,” Goss says. “Now in scenarios where you've got long grass, and poachers can lie down in long grass, a bird's eye view can be very useful.”

That's one reason the group is also looking into buying more of the aircraft and mounting cameras on some of them.

The drone project is part of a broader ratcheting up of anti-poaching efforts in Kenya. Among other things, Goss says the government is broadening its legal assault on the ivory trade bystarting to prosecute poachers and ivory dealers under the economic crimes act and the organized crimes act rather than the country’s weaker wildlife act.

Goss says the Mara Elephant Project is also exploring other ways to put drones to work on behalf of elephants, although it’s ruled out at least one application for going straight after the poachers themselves.

“I've seen some you tube videos where they've got a shotgun on a drone, which seemed pretty effective at shooting targets,” Goss says. “But no, that's not on our docket.”

But something like that could be on someone'sdocket before long in the effort to fight the epidemic of elephant poaching.

The UN says the illegal ivory trade has more than doubled in the last 6 years.