Rhino poaching reaches crisis point
Image: Tsavo National Park rhino warden
Reports that more than 1,000 African rhinos have been slaughtered in the last eighteen months have prompted a race to install camera traps in poaching hotspots.
Rhino slaughter as a result of the soaring demand for horns has now reached crisis point, according to the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).
It is hoped that camera traps deployed in problem areas could hold the answer. ZSL's field conservation director, Jonathan Baillie, says: "Rhinos are being massacred daily by gangs of armed poachers.
"This large-scale organised crime means law enforcers are being overpowered, but our new cameras will help turn the tide and put an end to this slaughter."
The camera trap project involves installing the cameras in Tsavo National Park, Kenya, from where they will send real-time information to rangers, allowing them to intervene.
The cameras are equipped with automated sensors and can detect passing vehicle vibrations, transmit images and even triangulate the sound of gunshots to provide accurate locations of poachers.
ZSL's camera trap project is a finalist in Google's Global Impact Challenge, which is open to public voting from May 22-31.
The project is dependent on the £500,000 Global Impact Award from Google. If successful, installation of the cameras is expected to be completed within months.
Click here for more information about the Global Impact Challenge.
Image credit: ZSL
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