Wildlife Drones wins global Conservation and Environment Airward 

Wildlife Drones, an Australian startup delivering technology to conservation projects globally, has won this year’s Conservation and Environment Airwards for their collaboration with NGO Save Vietnam’s Wildlife to track and protect pangolins from poaching and extinction.

Airwards recognises positive drone use cases from around the world and showcases innovations and the positive impacts of drones. 

With Wildlife Drones’ innovative drone-based radio-telemetry technology multiple pangolins were radio-tracked for the first time with a drone. Tracking from the air gave the researchers a huge advantage in the dense forest landscape and they were able to collect more data more quickly. This enables researchers to view the locations of tagged animals in real-time from the base station, which gives them great insight into their habitat use and much more.  

I find it almost impossible to overstate quite how perfect this solution is!”, said Judge Ellie Mackay from Ellipsis, who announced the award all the way from the Arctic. “It’s the optimum combination of technology and personnel to provide a solution that hugely impacts the conservation of these endangered animals. I expect to see much more of this project in the coming years – I want to see it raise funds, build relationships, go global and be a role model for many other wildlife conservation projects involving different animals in other places on Earth” she added. 

“It has been an honour to receive this award and recognise our technology but also the efforts of Save Vietnam’s Wildlife”, said Wildlife Drones’ CEO and founder Dr Debbie Saunders. “We have been working with Save Vietnam’s Wildlife for more than 3 years and travelled to Vietnam to meet the team and provide training so their local team can easily use the technology.” As a result, their field team have an increased capacity to monitor these endangered animals like never before, and the technology has enabled their team to deepen their understanding of the pangolins’ survival when rescued animals are released back into the wild.”

About Wildlife Drones

Wildlife Drones is an award-winning startup that provides innovative drone sensor technology to support land managers and researchers in the collection of meaningful data on threatened and invasive species and the ecosystems in which they exist, paving the way for more sustainable land management in the face of global change. 

About Airwards

Wildlife Drones is an award-winning startup that provides innovative drone sensor technology to support land managers and researchers in the collection of meaningful data on threatened and invasive species and the ecosystems in which they exist, paving the way for more sustainable land management in the face of global change.