Following the successful use of a thermal drone to monitor a herd of 23 elephants that wandered about Gadchiroli, Gondia and Navegaon districts in eastern Maharashtra, the technology has been used to take stock of big cats. NGO RESQ Charitable Trust and the forest department kept track of a pair of leopards in Satara via drones to prevent human-animal conflict. A few days ago, Tushar Navale, range forest officer (RFO) of Satara forest division’s Karad range contacted Neha Panchamiya, the founder and president of the Pune-based RESQ CT, and informed her about loud snarls that were emanating intermittently from a farmer’s field in his range.

The official got in touch with the NGO as villagers were extremely scared and forest officials also felt that it was not a good idea to venture directly into the field. The RFO also asked Panchamiya if the use of drones would help prevent panic or an untowardly incident. As large crowds had begun to show up at the site, without wasting any time, Panchamiya sent RESQ CT members, including Tuhin Satarkar, to the site from Pune. Meanwhile, the RFO and his staff made sure to carry out proper crowd management.