‘AI sentries’ bring new hope to Kerala’s fight against human-wildlife conflict

What happened: Kerala deploys AI “digital sentries” in six high-risk forest zones

Kerala’s forest administration deployed an AI-driven Farmguard “digital sentry” system in six high-risk forest zones to detect wildlife early and trigger immediate field response. The system reports near 100% success in repelling wild animals in the monitored zones, focusing on faster deterrence and quicker action by frontline teams.

Farmguard units combine machine learning, night-vision, and high-resolution cameras. The system is designed to distinguish living animals from non-living objects. When an animal enters the monitored boundary, integrated algorithms identify the species and send real-time alerts to forest officials and response teams.

Operational features described include:

Monitored perimeter radius: roughly 200 metres around each camera setup.Wildlife species listed for alerting and identification: elephants, wild boar, leopard, tiger, bear, and gaur.Alert channels: real-time alerts sent via SMS, WhatsApp, and Telegram to forest officials and Rapid Response Teams.Trigger condition: animal entry into the monitored boundary activates species identification and alerting.

The Farmguard deployment also includes an acoustic defence component meant to safely drive animals back into forests. The system cycles through simulated threat cues and uses low-frequency infrasound (very low frequency sound) intended to resemble natural wildlife communication.