Bangalore: It’s raining technology support for forest and wildlife monitoring in Karnataka. In a bid to minimise incidents of elephant straying into human habitats, the state forest department officials have come up with new software named ‘Aane’ (elephant).
‘Aane’ will pinpoint locations on forest boundary where elephants are straying and alert the forest staff on a real time basis. This is expected to help the foresters control human and crop damage caused by elephants.
The software is enabled with infrared sensors, which will beep the location of straying elephant and other wild animals to the monitor systems. The data will be relayed to frontline staff engaged in stopping animals from straying to human habitats.
“We have put the Aane software for test in tiger reserve to check accuracy. Once the tests are completed we shall implement the software in human-elephant conflict zones across the state.
The software will provide focused support to frontline staff of forest department rather than staggered support. If the staff can pinpoint the elephant straying location, the damage can be minimised,” said Vijay Mohan Raj, Chief Conservator of Forests.
For the next one month the forest staff in many reserves will be on alert even during night, as nearby villages are gearing up to carry out harvest.
Similarly, the Bandipur Tiger Reserve will soon launch ‘Hejje’ (pug marks) software to enhance monitoring on frontline staff, who man and patrol the forest beats and are stationed at Anti Poaching Camps (APCs).
The Hejje software is an improved version Huli, which is already in place at BRT Tiger Reserve. After success of Huli, wherein the forest officials sitting in Bangalore can view what the frontline staff at tiger reserve is doing, is in great demand. Six states in the country, which has a tiger population, have sought for this software.
Unlike Huli, where the foresters use handheld GPS equipment, the Hejje software will be enabled on Android phones, which will be provided to frontline staff at Bandipur.
