Poaching the Poachers: How Kenya is Saving Elephants with Night Vision Tech
In the last decade, Africa’s elephant population has declined by around 110,000, primarily due to poaching. The slaughter of African rhinos has also skyrocketed — 1,175 were killed in South Africa in 2015 alone, compared with 13 in 2007.
Because poachers operate mostly under the cover of night, this type of crime is hard to tackle. In December 2012, Google awarded WWF a $5 million grant to tackle the poaching crisis through technology, launching the Wildlife Crime Technology Project. They have collaborated with FLIR, a thermal imaging company, to design a new infrared camera capable of detecting human movement at night, and have installed cameras around Kenya's Maasai Mara Conservancy.
Since the programme started, local rangers have nabbed over 150 poachers.
CONNECT WITH WIRED
Web: http://po.st/WiredVideo
Twitter: http://po.st/TwitterWired
Facebook: http://po.st/FacebookWired
Google+: http://po.st/GoogleWired
Instagram: http://po.st/InstagramWired
Magazine: http://po.st/MagazineWired
Newsletter: http://po.st/NewslettersWired
ABOUT WIRED
WIRED brings you the future as it happens - the people, the trends, the big ideas that will change our lives. An award-winning printed monthly and online publication. WIRED is an agenda-setting magazine offering brain food on a wide range of topics, from science, technology and business to pop-culture and politics.