Drone Services USA Inc. says it recently went on a several-day expedition in Monterey, La., to demonstrate how drone and thermal imaging technology can assist in greatly reducing land and crop destruction caused by feral pigs at night.
Joel Bredow, president and CEO, along with Kevin Haley, director of sales and marketing, covered thousands of acres and used the company's flagship drone, the ProSearch XLF, equipped with IR Distro's IRD-TC640 camera.
Without being detected, the PSXLF filmed the pigs’ activities from one-fourth of a mile away during the day and night and captured and live-streamed the animals’ locations. Animal control was then able to surround and capture the pigs at night, when they are the most destructive.
Bredow explains, ‘Utilizing our technology, landowners and farmers will have the ability to effectively seek out and identify the culprits responsible for damages that exceeded $15 billion in 2014 in the United States alone; with our thermal imaging technology, herds can be identified at night, when they are most active, as far as ¼-mile away – depending on lens used – thereby finally providing an opportunity for successfully mitigating this ever increasing problem.
“Having a better understanding of the feral pig habits and locations during this critical time of their destructive activities will provide a much needed advantage to the landowners and farmers as they seek means to control the damage,’ he says.
The company says it has since been invited back to the region for another study and presentation to be conducted in the next few months. During this study, Bredow will most likely use his recently engineered, wide-angled lens that provides a 165-degree field of view.
