PRESS RELEASE: World First Drone Radio-tracking of Critically Endangered Pangolins
For Immediate Release
Date: 14th January 2020
In a world first, drones have been used to successfully radio-track critically endangered Sunda Pangolins in Vietnam.
This achievement was the result of a collaboration between Save Vietnam’s Wildlife and Australian technology start-up, Wildlife Drones – with funding provided by the U.S Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Saving Species project.
Pangolins are one of the world’s most trafficked mammals. Primarily poached for their scales, their populations are rapidly declining across South East Asia and parts of Africa. To combat this issue, Save Vietnam’s Wildlife rescues and rehabilitates hundreds of poached animals each year so they can be released back into the wild.
Prior to being released, the Pangolins are fitted with a radio-tag that allows their movements to be tracked. “We really want to collect as much as we can so we can tell the full story of how the animal is doing after we release them,” explained Nguyen Van Thai, the executive director of Save Vietnam’s Wildlife.
“But the problem is that up until now, we have had to manually track one animal at a time on foot within remote and rugged landscapes. Because this was an incredibly difficult task, it severely limited the number of animals we could monitor,” continued Mr Nguyen.
However, this has all changed since using Wildlife Drones’ innovative radio-tracking drone system. With the ability to rapidly search large areas and simultaneously locate multiple tagged Pangolins from the air, it is creating huge savings in time and effort for the team at Save Vietnam’s Wildlife.
Wildlife Drones CEO, Dr Debbie Saunders announced, “We’re very excited that our technology has proven highly effective for tracking these small animals, even though they live beneath dense forest canopy and often hide underground in burrows.”
“This is the first time that our technology has been used in the tropical forests of south-east Asia and it demonstrates how it is now possible to overcome many of the long-standing challenges that have been associated with tracking animals within these landscapes,” continued Dr Saunders.
“Our research team can now monitor up to one hundred pangolins all at the same time. It not only enables us to track more animals than ever before, but the information we gain will help us optimise the way we rehabilitate and release more animals in the future,” said Mr Nguyen.
This successful application of cutting-edge technology in remote wilderness areas is the beginning of a new era in wildlife monitoring and sets a new international standard for radio-tracking small animals.
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Note to Editors
About Wildlife Drones
Wildlife Drones is a technology start-up that is revolutionising the way animals are tracked. Based at the Australian National University’s (ANU) Centre for Entrepreneurial Agri Technology (CEAT), they have developed a radio-tracking drone system that can locate tagged animals from the air. With this new technology, Wildlife Drones is improving the way wildlife and invasive species are studied and managed.
About Save Vietnam’s Wildlife
Save Vietnam’s Wildlife (SVW) is a national non-profit organisation that is striving to secure a better future for Vietnamese wildlife. Founded in 2014 by Nguyen Van Thai, SVW is one of the leading organisations specialising in the conservation of pangolins as well as ending the illegal wildlife trade in Vietnam and South East Asia.
About USAID
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is the world’s premier international development agency and a catalytic actor driving development results. In support of America’s foreign policy, the U.S. Agency for International Development leads the U.S. Government’s international development and disaster assistance through partnerships and investments that save lives, reduce poverty, strengthen democratic governance, and help people emerge from humanitarian crises and progress beyond assistance.
For more information and access to additional media, please contact:
Dr Debbie Saunders, Wildlife Drones CEO
Phone: 0487902204
Email: [email protected]
Media Package: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-rm2LUnbQGuN9hZpkq5EKipbgl7BTmcA?usp=sharing
Video: https://vimeo.com/382968879/b75f7033b6
