DRONES have been much in the news of late, their uses and their abuses, but from the United States comes a report of a very unique project involving endangered wildlife and drones.
The black-footed ferret once roamed from Canada right down to Mexico, but today it is down to perhaps 300 individuals surviving in the wild in the United States.
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They are obviously critically endangered and the main problems are the clearing of their natural habitat for agriculture, a natural disease called Sylvatin Plague and prairie dogs.
The prairie dog is a problem because it is the ferret’s primary food source and because it is a declared pest as far as agriculture is concerned, farm pesticides are killing prairie dogs and therefore ferrets.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service has come up with a remarkable use for drones, and that is to send them over ferret territory to scatter food parcels laced with antidotes to both the fever and the pesticides.
The scheme, introduced in a wildlife sanctuary in the state of Montana, appears to be working as the ferrets are falling for the plan and eating the little food parcels.* What a remarkable use of modern technology, one wonders just what they will think of next!
More news of drones comes from France, where the French Air Force is training golden eagles to hunt down drones that are in the wrong place at the wrong time (the eagles are being bred by Artificial Insemination by Donor as they are protected and eggs may not be taken from the wild).
The use of birds of prey to clear the air space around both military and civilian airports has been in practice for years, as other birds frequently pose a threat to aircraft.
The eagles are being trained to hit drones in the air if the robot aircraft are spotted flying over sensitive areas. The French are particularly jittery about security following terrorist attacks around the country.
This is not the first time that eagles have been used for this purpose, the Dutch Air Force has been using bald eagles to hunt down drones since 2015.**
Back to North America, members of the Denaina Athabaskan tribe in Alaska have stopped a major mining company from strip mining a large stretch of Alaskan wilderness.
The Chuitna River watershed is a unique eco-system, home to wolves, foxes and bears and the rivers are full of salmon. The wilderness is also home to the Denaina Athabaskans. The company wanted to strip the mine for coal right across the watershed.***
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And finally, for those who have everything, if you are not particularly impressed with the new incumbent in the White House in Washington, you can replace him with your cat.
A firm in England is marketing a cat box in the form of a model White House, the same goes for the Russian leader, as you may also buy a cat box in the shape of the Kremlin. Cost? About R600 to be rid of Messrs Trump and Putin forever (one wonders if there are other applications?).***
*Care2Causes.com. **Agence France-Presse. ***Care2ActionAlerts. ****The Week: the Best of the British and Foreign Media.
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