Camera Trap System Could Help Fight Against Rhino Poaching

A camera system has been designed to track wildlife and trap poachers in conservation areas and protect some of their most endangered species, according to the Zoological Society London (ZSL) and their co-developers.

ZSL and its partners have created Instant Detect, which they say could be a critical tool in the fight against rhino-poaching. The camera uses motion triggers and passive infrared sensors to detect heat changes in its field of vision.

ZSL Conservation Technology Unit Project Manager Louise Hartley says, “It has two main uses. One for the remote monitoring, so for example we have a deployment in Antarctica to monitor penguins, so we’re getting images back daily to look at the penguin behaviour and also look at environmental change in that area, and then we’re also using it for anti-poaching purposes to improve security within protected areas. So an alert, an image, could be sent to an operations room and then rangers can then react accordingly to that alert.”

Watch the Instant Detect programme in this video from Reuters: