Drone Technology: Fighting Poachers
The Elephant
Throughout history, elephants have been revered. In Buddhist tradition, the Buddha picked the form of a white elephant as one of his many incarnations and in Hindu culture the god Ganesh, has the head of an elephant.
There is no surprise why the elephant is so respected. As the largest land animal, with one of the longest lifespans of 60+ years and highest IQs, elephants are similar in so many ways to Humans. For those who have had the good fortune to watch them in the wild, they would have been touched by how deeply committed and affectionate these animals are to each other. The matriarch (the oldest, most experienced female leader of a herd) leads in a way that is both gentle and inclusive. When a baby is born, the entire community gathers around the mother and newborn and rumble with joy. The calf learns to honour the elders in the herd and each of the females play a role in nurturing the young calf towards adulthood. Elephants are also fiercely loyal and would risk their lives for the sake of others in a family group. As such, when faced with a poacher it’s often the mothers of the herd who perilously lose their lives, for the sake of their calfs who are left orphaned and mourning with the rest of the group. Indeed, wild elephants have been known to grieve and even shed tears when a family member has passed away, revisiting the sites of poaching atrocities and ceremonially throwing dust over the bones that still remain.
Poaching for ivory dramatically increases the pressure on individual elephants carrying the iconic large tusks. These are often breeding bulls in their prime. Removing these magnificent bulls out of the population allows males with smaller or no tusks to breed more frequently and thus pass their genes to a greater number of offspring.
The Numbers
Despite the mighty strength and resilience of these incredible animals, they are no match for the destructive brutality of poachers. At the turn of the 20th century, there were a few million African elephants and about 100,000 Asian elephants. Today, there are an estimated 450,000–700,000 African elephants and between 35,000–40,000 wild Asian elephants. According to the World Wildlife Fund, Earth has lost 50 percent of its wildlife in the past 40 years. While habitat loss and environmental degradation clearly take their toll, poaching for human consumption has emerged as a key factor driving this loss.
The Hearts & Mind of people
At present, the campaign to save elephants has been an effort to win over the hearts and minds of people all over the world. There have been awareness campaigns in China, fundraising events in England and the US and educational programs for local communities. However, at the end of the day, “money” has shown to be unstoppable in corrupting and justifying the atrocities that are going on today.
Wildlife crime is the fifth most lucrative illegal activity in the world, generating an estimated $10 billion annually. “With a kilo of rhino horn selling for around $60,000 (£35,000), a big specimen can fetch $250,000,” Because these animals happen to live near some of the most impoverished people in the world, the high payout is worth any potential risk that the poachers may face. In Tanzania, it’s estimated that up to 60,000 people hunt illegally on the western side of Serengeti alone.
Drones
On the front line, wildlife rangers struggle to keep poachers at bay. Lack of funds often leave rangers overworked and underpaid, often not even with adequate equipment to patrol such an expansive area. In some countries, rangers aren’t even allowed to carry firearms even though they are up against armed poachers. Some poachers have even gained employment as rangers in order to have better access to the animals. Even the rangers with the best of intentions are struggling to combat poaching and keep the animals alive. “South Africa’s Kruger National Park is ground zero for poachers,” says Crawford Allan, spokesman for the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) crime technology project. “There are 12 gangs in there at any time. It’s almost like a war zone.” The Game Rangers Association of Africa estimates that about 1,000 rangers have been killed over the last 10 years trying to protect wildlife.
The push to adopt new technologies to combat poaching arises from what has been characterised as an arms race between poachers and wildlife rangers. It’s not uncommon for poachers to be armed with automatic weapons, silencers, copious amounts of ammunition, and even night vision goggles. They may even have access to satellite phones and hand-held GPS devices to coordinate with traffickers and stash trophies. Some poachers, like the Sudanese Janjaweed and other heavily armed gangs on horseback, the Lord’s Resistance Army, and RENAMO, have been trained in military tactics, enhancing their capabilities and intensifying the threat to park rangers and local communities.
Luckily there is renewed hope in the fight against poaching as the use of Drones (and other new technologies) seem to be very successful in attracting funding. In 2012, Google gave $5 million in funding to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to purchase conservation drones to fly over parts of Africa and Asia in an attempt to help monitor and catch wildlife poachers.
On an African plain in the dead of night, poachers can remain invisible to rangers just 100m away, so now with drones and infrared technology, rangers have an extra pair of eyes to safely detect and GPS locate poachers. However, whilst wild life groups often opt for the types of drones used by hobbyists, a military-grade, aluminium drone with a powerful engine and sophisticated radar that can look through canopy and detect metal — a poacher’s car or motorcycle, for example — would be a lot more effective.
Another factor to note is the battery life of a drone. While the “brains” of the drone weigh just 100g, the batteries required to power it for long-duration surveillance missions are heavy, meaning the airframe has to be bigger, and therefore more costly. Drones for anti-poaching will ultimately cost $50,000-$70,000 and higher-specification long-range drones can cost upwards of $250,000.
“It’s a very dynamic battle space where the poachers are continually responding to advances in technologies,” said Arthur Holland Michel, co-director at the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.
Data Intelligence
Perhaps the most highly developed and tested drone program, to combat rhino ivory poaching in South Africa, was created at the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS). Working with AirShephard, a nonprofit focused on aerial solutions to the poaching crisis, UMIACS cut rhino poaching entirely in one area in South Africa that previously had lost as many as 19 rhinos a month.
The program combines big data analytics and satellite imagery to understand better how poachers, wildlife, and rangers use the environment and which factors increase or decrease the likelihood an animal will be poached at a specific time and place. To predict when and where poaching will occur, the analytics rely on algorithms that take into account such details as the phases of the moon, road networks, water holes, past poaching incidents, and the satellite-tracked movements of animals. New data are acquired daily from drones, tour operators, rangers on patrol, and GPS collars on individual animals. In aggregate, the analytics reveal patterns of poaching attacks and can predict with 90 percent accuracy where poachers will strike.
According to UMIACS, most rhino poaching occurs near a roadway on or near the full moon and between 6:30 and 8:30 at night. Using this information, rangers are pre-deployed to areas holding rhinos and other vulnerable animals. When the drone spots potential poachers, it signals a command centre that alerts rangers, who immediately can move in to prevent animals from being killed and arrest the criminals.
Watch The Ivory Game
Make a Donation
Black Mambas — http://www.blackmambas.org/
African Parks — https://www.african-parks.org/donate
Big Life Foundation — https://biglife.org/
Elephants Without Borders — http://elephantswithoutborders.org/
Environmental Investigation Agency — https://eia-international.org/
Friends of Hwange — http://friendsofhwange.com/
PALF — http://palf-enforcement.org/
Save the Elephants — http://savetheelephants.org/
Wild Aid — http://www.wildaid.org/
Wildlife Conservation Society — http://www.wcs.org/
World Wide Fund for Nature — http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/elephant
African Wildlife Foundation — http://www.awf.org/projects/cameroon-elephant-anti-poaching