By TANIA PHILLIPS
NINOX Robotics officially launched their first commercial pest animal detection venture at a Southern Downs property this week.
Some 50 people gathered on Wednesday 29 June at sheep and cattle grazing property ‘Brooklyn’ to witness the launch the company’s military grade drone designed for pest animal detection.
Southern Downs Regional Council, together with project partners Goondiwindi Regional Council, Biosecurity Queensland and Granite Borders Landcare Committee, engaged Ninox Robotics to conduct drone flights over country along the Queensland and New South Wales border subject to previous pest animal control measures such as aerial baiting and shooting.
A three-day trial of the drone ended on Wednesday with landholders and media invited to see the technology first hand and get a glimpse of what may well become a routine part of pest animal control in the future.
Southern Downs Regional Council’s pest management officer Craig Magnussen said data captured with the drone’s infra-red and optical cameras would be analysed to ascertain remaining pest animal populations.
“The information that we get from the drone technology will enable us to better target future control activities, potentially resulting in more effective and less expensive control programs,” Mr Magnussen said.
“Wild dogs live and breed in among the large swaths of inaccessible country of the traprock region.
Aerial baiting with helicopters has been introduced in recent years to cover these areas in an attempt to achieve effective control.
“These operations are expensive and require the country to be comprehensively covered in order to put baits in the areas that wild dogs may be located,” he said.
“It’s a bit like trying to find a needle in a haystack, so it makes sense to use this innovative technology to track and monitor these animals to enable us to adjust our control methods for best effect.”
With the trial now completed, the project partners will await data from Ninox Robotics for implementation in pest animal control programs and will consider exploring further funding opportunities to support use of the drone technology in to the future.
The Southern Downs Regional Council project is made possible with funding from the Queensland Government’s Drought Relief (Feral Animals) program.
The drone takes off on its pest-fighting mission:
