Experts are raising environmental privacy concerns about the deployment of drones to monitor wildlife

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While drones have proven to be an effective tool for monitoring wildlife and mitigating human-wildlife conflicts, experts warn that their increasing use could inadvertently stress wildlife and infringe on people’s privacy.

Although unmanned aircraft or drones, in some cases equipped with payloads such as loudspeakers, are used in several Indian states to monitor wild animals and drive those that stray into human settlements back into forests, the Kerala Forest Department currently uses them only for “surveillance purposes”.

Nuisance to wildlife

Experts and scientists note that deploying drones over civilian areas can invade people’s privacy and be a nuisance to wildlife in forests, especially bees, wasps and birds. Therefore, the deployment of conservation technologies (CST), including drones, camera traps and thermal imaging for conservation and wildlife surveillance, requires a second thought.

“Relatively few studies have investigated how drones affect wildlife behaviour. Available research suggests that the high-pitched noise of drones, which mimics the sound of bees and wasps, causes nuisance and disrupts the regular movements of these insects. There are cases where drones attack,” says Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan, conservation researcher and assistant physician at BengaluTRE.

Standards should be followed

The Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) scientist, who did not want to be named because he was not authorized to speak on government policy, has become an essential tool for studying wildlife, noted that flying them too low, too fast or too loudly could stress the animals and affect their behavior. “Drone operators should always follow the rules of safe flying. This includes keeping the drone at a safe height, flying slowly at a sideways angle instead of directly overhead, keeping flights short and staying away from animals when they are nesting or breeding,” the scientist adds.

Acknowledging that CSTs have greatly improved wildlife monitoring and anti-poaching efforts, experts warn that their rapid expansion also has social, ethical and political implications that remain poorly addressed. One of the key concerns is privacy, as drones and hidden camera traps can take pictures and videos of people without their consent, especially in and around forested areas. They warn that such recordings could be misused if unauthorized persons had access to them.

“Research studies have revealed rampant misuse of CSTs and serious human rights violations in Kaziranga National Park and Corbett Tiger Reserve. The Kerala government’s recent decisions to expand the deployment of drones and camera traps therefore require an immediate and critical review. Kerala has an opportunity to set a model for forest conservation by introducing a comprehensive Code for the use of CSTs,” adds Mr. Rajan.

Meanwhile, P. Pugazhendi, Principal Principal Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden, Kerala, says the state is not using drones to drive animals back into forests. “Generally, drones can serve two purposes in wildlife management. One is to track and monitor, while the other is to actively drive wild animals back into the forests. For the latter, drones can be equipped with payloads such as speakers that play sounds to drive animals away from human habitations. This practice is followed in several countries as well as some Indian states. However, in Kerala, it is currently deployed strictly and only for human drones. conflict,” says Mr. Pugazhendi..

Published – 29 Jun 2026 17:38 IST