Our History
Innovation from the German Aerospace Center for wildlife protection
Saving animals as motivation
Animals have been close to Dr. Martin Israel’s heart since his childhood. Over 15 years ago, the Wildretter project at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen offered him the opportunity to pursue this passion professionally.
From the sensor on the mower to the smart drone system
After initial experiments with sensors on the mower, the “Flying Wildlife Rescuer” was developed from 2010 onwards. As part of his doctoral thesis, a system consisting of a drone, thermal imaging camera and special software for image evaluation was developed with functions that set standards: reliable detection even in sunshine, automatic object recognition, GPS-supported tracking and a surface performance of one hectare per minute.
Research for wildlife rescue
Our founder Dr. Martin Israel was able to demonstrate for the first time in 2010 as part of his doctoral thesis that thermal imaging drones are a suitable tool for rescuing fawns.
As part of his doctorate at the German Aerospace Center and the University of Osnabrück, Martin conducted intensive research on the subject of fawn rescue during meadow mowing. In addition to his research work, Martin was also in intensive exchange with people who had decades of experience in fawn rescue without drones and collected practical knowledge in the process.
The combination of scientific findings and knowledge from practice has led to the development of new methods and algorithms that make wildlife rescue more efficient than conventional methods and help to protect more wild animals.
The Flying Wildlife Rescuer project under the direction of Martin Israel received the “Germany, Land of Ideas” award in 2012.
The founding of thermal DRONES
However, the DLR did not find a partner for the further development and market launch. So in 2020, Martin Israel, together with Tobias Dahms, took the step from scientist to company founder. This resulted in thermal DRONES: a project that from the beginning was more than just technology sales – a mission to efficiently and effectively protect wild animals together with like-minded people.
Development with customers
The founders’ idea was to finance further development through the sale of drones and to develop a system together with customers that can detect and rescue fawns, field hares and ground breeders on all agricultural land.
The POISuite has emerged from the original system: a comprehensive software solution for DJI Enterprise drones. Numerous functions have been added to the navigation with the smartphone to the fawn, the image optimization for flights during the day and the detection with artificial intelligence:
Shared success
In the meantime, the former research work has become a unique tool that relieves wildlife rescuers in many areas of their work and thus helps to save more animals. The thermal DRONES team and the customers have grown together to form an ever-growing team that shares a common goal: to jointly develop solutions that make a real difference – for the wild animals of today and for the wildlife protection of the future.
Important milestones in the history of thermal DRONES
2010
The Wildretter project at the DLR
At the German Aerospace Center in Oberpfaffenhofen, Martin Israel is researching the use of drones for wildlife rescue and developing the georeferencing process.
2011
The Flying Wildlife Rescuer
In Upper Austria and in Western Pomerania with the German Wildlife Foundation, Martin Israel rescues the first fawns with the self-developed thermal imaging drone.
2012
Germany Land of Ideas award
The Flying Wildlife Rescuer project is awarded the Germany Land of Ideas prize.
2015
The promotion
Martin Israel is doing his doctorate on drone-based wildlife rescue at the DLR and the University of Osnabrück.
2018
Joint development
From 2018, Tobias and Martin jointly develop a new version of the Flying Wildlife Rescuer.
2020
The company foundation
In 2020, Martin and Tobias jointly found thermal DRONES GmbH and sell drones and self-developed software for wildlife rescue.
2023
Integration into the agricultural machine
thermal DRONES, together with CLAAS and Agxeed, demonstrates the integration of drone-based wildlife detection into the mowing process at Agritechnica.
2024
New software and AI for fawn rescue
For the 2024 season, thermal DRONES is launching the POISuite, a complete software package for drone-based wildlife and species protection. The software is constantly evolving.
2025
Locations in Northern and Southern Germany
thermal DRONES now has 12 employees and several locations in Northern and Southern Germany.