New research project for saving fawns funded by government

The target of the project is to develop an application system for saving fawns from being hurt when mowing agricultural areas. For this, the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt  - DLR) cooperates with the agritechnical engineering company CLAAS and the Technical University of Munich under the aegis of  i_s_a_ Industrieelektronik GmbH. This associate project is also sponsored by the Bavarian Hunting Association  (Landesjagdverband Bayern), and the project is executed by ZENTEC GmbH. On 31 May 2012,  the government’s funding commitments were handed over by Ilse Aigner, Federal Minister of Nutrition, Agriculture and Consumer Protection. 

"Wildlife Saver" project

Within the framework of the "wildlife saver" project (funding awarded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research under # 16SV3669),  sensors and evaluation processes have been developed since 2008  which allow for fawns to be detected reliably in high grass. Apart from modern cameras using visible and infrared spectral ranges, the project uses microwave technology and laser systems. While the systems installed on tractors directly will alert the farmer when detecting animals in the grass, there also are cameras available on small unpiloted aerial vehicles (UAV) to search the grassland prior to mowing. The alarm system and the related  saving processes protect the fawns from being violated or killed  by the mower. The partners cooperating in this project are CLAAS, i_s_a_ Industrieelektronik GmbH, DLR Institut für Methodik der Fernerkundung (DLR Remote Sensing Institute), Munich Technical University and Hohenheim University. The Bavarian Hunting Association is the project’s associate partner.