Title: Thermal aerial survey of feral animals in Western Australia’s southwest forests

Authors: Paul Rampant, John Asher

Abstract:

This presentation covers the outcomes of a proof of concept study determining the
capability of a thermal sensor for detecting feral mammals under native forest canopy in the
southwest of WA.

The Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) in WA determined the need for a
thermal sensor to monitor bushfires across the more than 116 million Ha DEC managed
land. As the department has a number of two-seat Scout aircraft utilised for fire spotting
throughout the summer and autumn and underutilised for the remaining of the year the
potential to operate sensors on these aircraft could mean that the sensors could be
economically run throughout the off-season providing the sensor package was kept small
and portable enough to transfer between aircraft and, potentially, Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles (UAV’s) in the future. It was, therefore, proposed that Fire Management Services
should attempt to achieve other sensor needs within the department when selecting the
sensor package.

A feral pig control program has been operating in the southwest of WA for many years now,
with numbers trapped and pig activity and damage to the environment and adjoining
farming properties being the only means of monitoring the success of the program. Small,
light-weight thermal sensors have been utilised in USA for the detection and monitoring of
deer so it was determined that thermal survey could potentially be a very efficient method
of measuring pest animal populations and the effectiveness of management programs over
DEC managed land in WA.

This presentation describes a proof of concept trial that successfully used still images from a
high-end FLIR thermal video camera to detect animals under forest canopy in Western
Australia’s south west.