NILGIRIS: The field-level staff of the Gudalur forest division in the district will receive drone operation training at Genepool Park in Naadukani near Gudalur to monitor and prevent wild elephants from entering agricultural fields and residential areas.
Officials hope that they will be able to mitigate the conflict as all field staff can track elephants and prevent human-wildlife conflicts.
Sources said a private drone-operating company is giving training to 25 staff attached to six forest ranges in the division. This started on Wednesday and the training will be completed by Friday. The state government has given drone training to only one staff member for a forest range across the state. The Gudalur District Forest Officer, N. Venkatesh Prabhu, said that a group of forest staff should learn about the operation and make them skilled.
“We have one thermal drone which will be used during the day and night along with two normal drone cameras. We have chosen up to four staff for a forest range to upskill as one staff member will be available in the absence of others.
We are also planning to buy a few more drone cameras and apply for a pilot’s certificate for forest staff who learn well during the three-day training programme,” said an official. “Along with mitigating man-animal conflict, we will be able to track forest fires and control them as well, before they cause significant damage,” the official added.