A quadcopter that can take photos and video now belongs to Land of the Leopard National Park.

The drone was purchased with the support of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Phoenix Fund, which also provided a series of training sessions for the park’s inspectors.

Land of the Leopard inspectors have already had the opportunity to test how copters can be used to patrol the territory: Phoenix Fund employees have held several drone demonstrations in the national park.

“This is certainly a valuable gift for the park,” said Yevgeny Stoma, Deputy Director for Security at Land of the Leopard. “The copter can be used not only to monitor fires but also poaching, as well as to track conflict animals and even to estimate animal populations. I think this device will be very useful in the inspectors’ work.”

Air monitoring of the park’s territory will be carried out as needed. During the fire season, the copter will be used to monitor reported fires, as well as conditions such as wind speed and direction. In addition, the park’s management plans to purchase two more drones in the near future, which will allow for simultaneous monitoring from all three devices.