The Leopard Land National Park monitored the territory with the help of ZALA drones

"Leopard Land has become the first protected area in the Far East to use unmanned systems to protect rare animals. Previously, flights were conducted only in the warm season.

This time the flights allowed to show the capabilities of drones in winter with the presence of snow cover in the forests.

Leopard Land specialists were able to survey a number of sections of the protected area from an altitude of up to 3 kilometres and use high-tech equipment to capture ungulates, the basis of the food base of the rare big cats. Work with the equipment showed that deer and wild boars are clearly visible through the lens of a camera with 60x zoom capability and a thermal imager, including at night.

During flights over the protected area, the Land of the Leopard staff also constantly liaised with state inspectors of the Conservation Department. The task force waited for a signal with the coordinates of the offenders so that, if necessary, they could go to detain them at the same moment. However, no unauthorised persons were detected in the protected area during the overflights.

"We analysed how such equipment works in the difficult conditions of the mountainous terrain of the National Park, how it copes with poor visibility due to, for example, coniferous forests," said Viktor Bardyuk, Director of FGBU Leopard Land. - We thank ZALA AERO GROUP, part of Kalashnikov Concern, and the Forestry Department of Primorsky Krai for their co-operation". 

Other potential uses of drones include: detecting fires, creating models of the national park's topography using special optics, which can be effective for assessing the natural complex. UAVs can be used to assess changes in forest cover, for example, after fires.