Thermal-imaging drones are helping forest officials in Tamil Nadu track elephant herds before they reach farms and villages, reducing the risk of night-time encounters.
Tamil Nadu is one of India’s most conflict-prone elephant landscapes.
The device, customised for continuous monitoring, is now central to Hosur Forest Division’s strategy to manage the seasonal movement of elephants between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
The Hosur region sits approximately 39 km from Bangalore.
The state’s approach was shared by Supriya Sahu, additional chief secretary in Tamil Nadu’s environment, climate change & forests department, who wrote on X that “Every year large elephant herds migrate in Hosur from the adjoining Bannerghatta National Park and Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary often crossing into the forest agriculture interface of Jawlagiri and Denkanikottai leading to conflict. This is truly one of the toughest seasons for elephants, local people and the Forest staff. This region has seen some serious conflicts in the past. This year, our response is smarter and faster.”
She said the new thermal-imaging drone has been a key intervention.
“Among many other interventions we are using a Thermal Drone customized for continuous monitoring which is proving to be a breakthrough. Real-time visuals are helping us detect herds early and guide nearly 50% of them back towards the interior forest areas before they approach habitations.”
“It has also prevented accidental encounters, protected our ground teams, and more than doubled the efficiency of safe passage,” she added.
Ground teams have been expanded to support the drone operations.
“On the ground, 20 anti-depredation teams work through the night, supported by phased installation of steel wire rope fencing along the 200 km forest boundary, which has already closed key crossing points in the Jawlagiri sector,” Sahu said.
When elephants do enter open areas, she added, “our teams ensure people keep away, avoiding risk and allowing safe passage.”
She credited “technology, teamwork and dedicated field staff” for helping Hosur “lead in smarter coexistence,” and acknowledged the field leadership of IFS Jagdish S. Bakan.
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These measures are unfolding in a region where conflict has steadily risen.
Bannerghatta National Park, a dry deciduous scrub forest near Bengaluru, is identified by the Wildlife Institute of India as an important habitat for the endangered Asian elephant. But its location just outside a major metropolis has led to shrinking space for elephants and more frequent contact with people.
Bannerghatta is part of a wider tri-state landscape that includes Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
Elephants travel across these connected forests in search of food and water.
In recent years, some herds have begun altering their ranges and moving eastward into Andhra Pradesh, which had not seen wild elephants for nearly 200 years.
Research groups have documented these movements. The Wildlife Trust of India notes that elephant corridors remain essential for the long-term survival of the species.
In its third edition of the Conservation Reference Series, titled ‘Right of Passage: Elephant corridors of India’ the wildlife body states: In the fragmented, human-transformed landscapes that typify most elephant habitats in Asia today, corridors thus ensure that the nutritional, demographic and genetic needs of elephants are met.”
A narrow, 17-mile elephant corridor connecting Bannerghatta to the Kaundinya Wildlife Sanctuary in Andhra Pradesh was created to handle some of the eastward movement. But the continued expansion of farms and roads has made protection difficult.
Conflict data show the growing risks.
According to a written reply in Parliament on November 25, 2024, from Kirti Vardhan Singh, the junior minister for environment, forest and climate change, elephant deaths due to train collisions increased from 14 in 2019–20 to 17 in 2023–24. Deaths from electrocution rose from 76 to 94 in the same period.
Conservationists say these numbers reflect the pressure elephants face as they navigate fragmented corridors and human-dominated areas.