Pilot perceptions of options to manage drone-wildlife interactions; associations with wildlife value orientations and connectedness to nature

Abstract Drone usage is increasing and drone-wildlife interactions are likely to increase in frequency and occurrence. These interactions can have adverse consequences for drones (e.g., damage or loss due to aggressive wildlife behaviour) and/or for wildlife (e.g., injury, disturbance). This study aims to understand how drone pilots perceive the acceptability of candidate management solutions, which could form possible codes of conduct. Commercial, conservation and recreational pilots (n = 285) were surveyed. Pilots considered 11 of 13 candidate management solutions to manage drone-wildlife interactions as acceptable (83.3% of all responses reflected greater acceptability than unacceptability), however, this support was associated with underlying values and beliefs, indexed by the Wildlife Value Orientations (WVO) and Inclusion of Nature in Self (INS) scales. Specifically, the higher a pilot scored on the social affiliation dimension of WVO, the more they supported a range of measures to avoid deleterious impacts on wildlife. Pilots with stronger Appropriate Use beliefs were less supportive of “planning and operational protocols” to reduce impacts. Pilots reporting no connection to nature (INS scale), were less supportive of planning and operational protocols to accommodate wildlife compared with pilots reporting some connection to nature, but the analysis was unbalanced. The broad level of support for most management among most pilots suggests pilots in our sample may be amenable to codes of conduct which minimise deleterious drone-wildlife interactions.