As Indian authorities are turning to the use of drones to successfully nab poachers illegally hunting one-horn rhinos, People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is hoping to apply the practice in the U.S. to monitor public spaces for animal abuse — from factory farms and fishing holes to backyard dove hunting.
“It’s a peaceful use of the drone, it’s not what we’re hearing on the news,” PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said in an interview with Mint Press News.
Indian drones are pre-programmed to rise to an elevation of nearly 700 feet for an hour and half, enough time for surveillance to secretly capture images of poachers in Kaziranga National Park in Assam state, where increased reports of rhino, elephant and tiger hunts have occurred.
PETA, which has a presence in India, has looked at wildlife conservation efforts in the country as a model for what could be accomplished in the United States.
“One of the campaigns [PETA] is working on in India is traveling circuses, and you don’t need a drone for that, but you do in the big national parks and the rivers — and drones have proven to be effective there,” Newkirk said.
PETA’s plans to move into the drone market come after unprecedented complaints made by observers of hunters who are acting irresponsibly, either through copious alcohol consumption or by allowing underage children to illegally take part in animal shootings.
“We’re getting complaints now because more and more hunters are getting younger kids to go out and shoot,” Newkirk said. “Drunken hunters usually can’t hit the side of the barn, but these kids are just learning — they’re learning on living targets.”
PETA’s efforts aren’t unprecedented in the United States. In 2012, hunters in South Carolina shot down an unmanned spy drone, launched by animal rights group SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK), after attempting to capture hunters taking part in a live pigeon shoot. At the time, its founder claimed the use of the specific drone was legal. The only legal action that was taken was regarding hunters’ destruction of SHARK’s property.
Navigating with the FAA
PETA has yet to apply for a drone use permit through the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the body governing the surveillance drone program in the U.S., as it is in the process of determining the type of drone necessary to carry out its efforts.
While there’s room for the FAA to turn PETA down, Newkirk said that won’t stop PETA’s efforts to move forward with its plans, adding it won’t act outside of the law to do so.
“I think there are other ways to use drones without a permit in all probability,” she said “If we don’t get a permit there are several jurisdictional issues where you don’t have to involve the FAA depending on what you use.”
As of now, PETA is looking into the purchase of the CineStar Octocopter, capable of carrying a digital single-lens reflex camera, which has the capability of flying for roughly five minutes. Although PETA is keeping its options open, looking at equipment that is smaller, and can carry a longer distance, all while possessing lightweight cameras.
As noted by a recent Reuters report, drones are already used by commercial entities — to monitor Hollywood film sets, professional sporting events and survey crops and vineyards. While commercial use is technically banned, public agencies can get permission. Individuals, including remote aircraft hobbyists, are allowed to fly unmanned aircraft so long as it remains at least 400 feet from the ground and is located a quarter mile from an airport.
Yet at increase in use and the promise of even more technology, there’s a push to create guidelines and push legislation that would define who is allowed to use drone surveillance — and how they’re allowed to use it. By 2030, it’s estimated there will be more than 30,000 drones flying in U.S. skies, many equipped with surveillance capabilities.
Civilian drone applications submitted to the FAA will not be processed until 2015, in alignment with a law passed by Congress mandating the agency open U.S. skies to unmanned drone use at that time. Yet the FAA is likely to fall behind that schedule, according to a March Associated Press report, largely due to the amount of applications and evolving industry.
The privacy issue
There are currently more than 200 other applications for civilian drone use that have been submitted, according to Newkirk. The applications apply to those in the market of environmental surveying, television production, news media and law enforcement. Teal Group, an aerospace industry research organization, estimates the market will expand by double within the next decade, to the tune of $90 billion.
Concerns over drone use have largely come from the privacy protection sector, which highlights the possibility of unmanned drones to be equipped with technology that allows unprecedented surveillance of law-abiding citizens by law enforcement.
“High-rise buildings, security fences or even the walls of a building are not barriers to increasingly common drone technology,” Electronic Privacy Information Council Surveillance Project Director Amie Stepanovich told the Associated Press.
PETA is aware of concerns from privacy advocates over the use of surveillance drones in general, yet Newkirk argues the organization plans to use the drone to capture illegal activity in public space.
“Nothing should ever be black and white — it should be (judged on) whether it’s harmful or it’s helpful,” she said. “There’s a huge issue on public disclosure, and this will be used in the great outdoors, so I would think that this is an aid to removing violence and stopping illegal behavior that is conducted in public places or outdoor in parks and in woodlands.”