WWF: anti-poaching drones arrive in Asia and Africa

    WWF: anti-poaching drones arrive in Asia and Africa

    WWF asks for help from technologies to safeguard endangered species. For this reason in Asia and Africa between the end of 2013 and the beginning of 2014 will be operational drones, eyes from the sky, unmanned aircraft that will scan the earth's surface in search of poachers.



    He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him

    Il WWF asks for help from technologies for safeguard endangered species. For this reason, in Asia and Africa between the end of 2013 and the beginning of 2014, two drones will be operational, eyes from the sky, unmanned aircraft that will scan the earth's surface in search of poachers.



    Il illegal ivory trade in 2011 it reached record figures. 668 rhinos were killed in South Africa, an unprecedented record. And in Malaysia in December, a single shipment of seized ivory weighed almost as much as all the ivory illegally traded in 2011. From bad to worse.

    The disgraceful credit goes to poachers who kept their success rate high even in early 2013, according to South African government data. "Kruger National Park is the area most affected by rhino poachers this year, after losing 61 rhinos", he told the Guardian a government spokesperson. "21 poachers were arrested, 14 of them in Kruger National Park."

    Now is the time to go hard. WWF, with the help of some financiers including Google as part of a three-year project, will send two drones, one to a country in Africa and one to Asia, through a program costing 5 million dollars, to fight trade. illegal wildlife.

    An idea that has taken off last September in Nepal, when 19 rangers and Nepalese army personnel were trained in the use of UAVs (Unmanned Eerial Vehicles) by developer Lian Pin Koh, an ecologist at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. Participants learned how to use airplanes and conducted field tests at Bardia National Park.

    Traditionally, the difficulties of monitoring national parks have largely depended on the accessibility of the land by anti-poaching patrols, as well as providing prior information to nearby poachers. But drones will give patrols a new strategic advantage, allowing them to control previously inaccessible areas.

    The presence of a UAV could also be a deterrent for poachers, aware that Asian and African parks will soon be monitored both from the ground and from above. Vehicles, FPV Raptor with integrated GPS device, they are quite light and through a camera they will film the ground below. They will be able to fly following a planned route of about 30 km at a maximum altitude of 200 meters for a maximum of 50 minutes. The battery can be recharged in about half an hour. Every UAV costs around $ 2.500, and is also accessible to developing countries such as Nepal.



    Allan Crawford, head of the WWF Google technology project explained that the life of the rangers is truly frightening because they can run into armed gangs of poachers, usually four or five of them. It also happens to encounter wild animals. For this drones will be very useful.

    Such vehicles are already in use for wildlife monitoring, such as populations of Sumatran orangutan. Some animal welfare organizations have also used them in whaling monitoring, against the Japanese whaling fleet, or in Arctic Circle to monitor the layer of ice and animals.


    Francesca Mancuso


    Read also:

    - 6 technologies that help endangered species

    - Hunting: poaching is legalized on the Tremiti islands

    - Poaching: the shocking video that denounces the illegal hunting of rabbits and small rodents in the Giglio Island National Park

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