The Watcher of Elephants

After leaving Xishuangbanna， Yunnan Province， in March 2020， a herd of 17 Asian elephants wandered northward， lingered in Pu'er city for about nine months and eventually entered Yuxi city in April 2021. The hulking animals quickly became social media stars， with their epic northbound journey captivating the whole world.

The moment the herd arrived in Eshan county， Yuxi city， on May 25， 2021， the municipal public security bureau responded to instructions from the provincial command center and formed a drone operation team of four Party members selected from the Special Police Patrol Detachment. This team was the first of its kind to use drones to track and monitor the herd. From their departure of Yuxi to their entrance to Honghe prefecture， Shiping county， the team worked for 44 days， covering over 7，000 kilometers of terrain across eleven townships and four counties. With their drones dubbed "eyes in the sky"， the team used the technology to "protect both the elephants and the local people along the herd's migrating route within Yuxi" and performed outstandingly well with "zero crashes" and "zero errors" throughout the operation.

A Responsive Aerial Monitoring Mission

The mission， in essence， was about ecological and environmental protection， with the goal of "protecting both the elephants and the local people" as instructed by the command center.

Packing light， team-leader Luo Jiaquan and his comrades immediately set about their aerial monitoring task. "We often use drones to track down criminal suspects or find evidence， but we have never tracked and monitored elephants with drones..." Luo said at the time. Luo and his team knew the mission would be "a demanding challenge"， but they refused to be intimidated and rapidly settled into their mission.

The mission involved much unpredictability： Flying their drones meant dealing with unexpected and challenging conditions： if flown too low or too close to the elephants， the devices could either crash in the jungle or disturb the herd's migration route. The team weren't fully aware of the magnitude of the difficulties until they arrived at the scene and confronted the mountainous， forested， high-altitude landscape.

On May 27， a drone from another monitoring organization crashed during its operations and Luo Jiaquan and his team helped retrieve it from the forest. On June 20， a similar mishap affected another police unit and Luo's team stepped in again to help recover the wrecked drone as well as the deformed battery， preventing the battery's potential spontaneous ignition.

On top of the monitoring mission， the team also launched training sessions for seven police officers from the local public security department to hone their skills during a real-life mission. The whole operation lasted 44 days， with the team taking just a three-day break from June 3 when the elephants left the Yuxi's Hongta district and roamed into Kunming city. On June 7 when the giant mammals wandered back into Yuxi's Yimen county， the team immediately resumed their mission and didn't have another day off until July 9 when the herd finally strolled into Shiping county， Honghe prefecture. Over the 44 days， the team launched 1，125 drone flights for a total of 348 hours and collected and sent GPS coordinates 2，026 times.

Having a Tough Time

The deep river valleys of the herd's migrating route were extremely hot and humid， with the temperature sometimes reaching above 35℃. Faced with such conditions Luo and his colleagues could only drink plenty of water to stave off dehydration and try to cool down by frequently splashing their faces with cold water. Mosquito bites in the river valleys were another trying issue. The team members all covered themselves with layer upon layer of mosquito spray and even tied boxes of mosquito repellent to their waists， but still found themselves at the mercy of the bloodsuckers， which left their bodies covered in bites and scars.

On one occasion， after many attempts the team finally secured a stable GPS signal and located the herd in the mountains. But the mischievous pachyderm seemed intent on playing hide-and-seek with the officers and always managed to avoid their sight. To address this， the team hovered the drones at low altitude， scanning across mountain streams and river valleys. A thick fog made it difficult to pick the elephants out， though， so the officers flew the drones lower still， dipping them beneath the foggy air.

This aroused immediate anxiety in team member Li Renpei： "110， 100， 95， 90， 80... Captain Luo， our drone is only 80 meters above the ground. It is about to crash into the trees."

"Steady！ Keep lowering it despite the risk. We must push to the lowest altitude we can，" Luo responded gravely.

When the drone dove to a height of just 70m above ground， the team finally got a clear view of the herd wandering at the bottom of the valley. That night， they all felt too excited to sleep—it's rare to locate a target on the first day on duty. Normally，  drones can only reach as high as 500m above ground， but this mission often required them to surmount mountains as high as 600m. The team had to operate the devices through risky maneuvers and make sure they steered clear of not just mountains but also the vegetation.