Specialist drones using thermal imaging technology similar to that used in Ukraine for night attacks on Russian tanks are to be trialled by the Scottish government to help cull deer.
The aircraft will be able to identify the location of deer in young woodland areas and even indicate the species and sex of the animals.
The deer population has doubled in 30 years with numbers now estimated at more than one million across the country. About a fifth of Scotland’s wild population is due to be slaughtered over the next five years.
Forestry and Land Scotland (FSL), a government agency, said the the drones would be used to help counter a growing number of the animals entering an enclosed 1,000 hectare conservation area with newly