While piloting his drone in the middle of a Belgian alfalfa field, Cédric Petit has just spotted a white spot on the screen, a heat mark that indicates the presence of an animal nestled in the tall grass. Another fawn that he will be able to save.
This 40-year-old Belgian, a nature lover, founded the association “Sauvons Bambi” four years ago, which allows farmers to avoid the unpleasant experience of crushing a small mammal or a bird in the middle of nesting with agricultural machinery.
Called in advance of mowing, he provides his know-how and technology – a drone equipped with a thermal camera – for this wildlife protection mission. The animal spotted in the meadow is then moved to the neighboring undergrowth where it is no longer at risk. The service is free.
“Accidents are happening more and more, that’s why we’re here,” says Cédric Petit, who intervened that morning on the land of a farmer in Eghezée, near Namur (central Belgium). The latter grows fodder for livestock.
“With climate change and unpredictable weather, the grass is growing a little all the time and we are mowing earlier and earlier in the year, including between the end of April and the end of June during the period when the fawns are born,” he continues.
His association claims to have saved 834 fawns in 2023 (compared to 353 the previous year) in the territories of Belgium and Luxembourg, where it is also active.
This is less than in Germany or Switzerland, where the number of animals saved is in the thousands thanks to a larger network of volunteers who can fly over more meadows.
But the curve is also rising in Belgium, where “Sauvons Bambi” welcomes a growing number of drone pilots ready to devote time voluntarily to this mission, a month and a half per year, underlines the founder.
The association currently has around 80 pilots, all working in their free time. Cédric Petit himself has a salaried job, alongside his “hobby”.
– “This one is a week and a half old” –
After deploying the drone, which flies at a height of 70 metres to provide a wide viewing angle of the field, it can sometimes take several minutes to spot the young fawn huddled on the ground, too weak to move on its own and the easiest “prey” for the mowing machine.
First, a hare feasting on alfalfa appeared on the control screen that morning, then a roe deer – a young male roe deer – enjoying the cool grass in the early hours of the day.
When a fawn is finally discovered, curled up dozing, Cédric Petit rushes over in gloves with a crate covered in hay, the means chosen to transport the animal gently.
“This one is a week and a half old, maybe two weeks old. The goal now is to get him to safety along the woods, where his mother can find him and take him,” explains the forty-year-old, who grew up in a farming family.
The rescued “Bambi” are most often deer fawns, taken from the woods to the meadows at birth in order to benefit from essential light during the first few days.
“The deer fawn is less present because it quickly follows its mother after birth, it is more robust, like the young foal,” according to Mr. Petit.
In addition to the fight for animal welfare and the maintenance of biodiversity, the services of “Save Bambi” help to reduce the risk of poisoning of cattle that ingest fodder containing the botulism bacteria.
“The rotting of an animal carcass in a bale of plastic-coated hay can cause this disease. It is better to avoid this major problem,” emphasizes Bernard Debouche, the farmer who requested the intervention.
mad/jca/mba
