The World Wildlife Fund turns to tech to catch poachers

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Poaching has always been a problem in Africa and it seems to get worse year after year. Even with stricter laws in place, poaching of endangered African animals continues on often ending in violent confrontations. The World Wildlife Fund has been on the forefront of the battle to stop poaching of endangered animals in Africa and worldwide. Now the non-profit is turning to technology to help catch poachers in Kenya and hopefully save some of our most endangered animals.

The World Wildlife Fund is using human detection software and thermal imaging cameras to catch poachers in the act. The World Wildlife Fund has been able to catch two dozen poachers on Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve and others at undisclosed locations. The non-profit is using equipment from FLIR, a thermal imaging company. FLIR is also involved in the effort, probably providing equipment and support.

“Wildlife rangers now have the help they’ve desperately needed,” said Colby Loucks, WWF’s Wildlife Crime Technology Project lead, in a press release. “This groundbreaking technology allows them to search for poachers 24 hours a day, from up to a mile away, in pitch darkness.” “This technology is invaluable in our night surveillance work. The ability of our rangers to distinguish potential poachers from a large distance is nothing short of remarkable,” said Brian Heath, CEO and Director of the Mara Conservancy, in the press release. “The last three people our team arrested were flabbergasted as to how they were detected.”

The World Wildlife Fund says poaching of Rhino’s and Elephants is on the rise and they’re determined to fight back with as much tech as they can. Not only is thermal imaging and human detection software being used but they hope to use drones in the near future. Mounting thermal imaging cameras on drones to better find poaching activity overhead would be a huge benefit for the effort.

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What do you think of using tech to battle poaching? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.

[button link=”http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2016/11/25/how-technology-is-helping-catch-nighttime-poachers-in-africa.html” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Fox News[/button]

Last Updated on February 14, 2017.

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