Google, in its Global Impact Award Programme just gave the World Wide Fund for Nature, a grant of 5 million US Dollars to be used in the tracking and protection all the endangered species. The UAV’s should be deployed over poaching hotspots, linked to radio collared animals; they can be able to look out for these poachers on foot or in vehicles. With the current UAV technology, you can get secure facial recognition and the identify vehicle registration numbers and vehicle markings and this is evidence that can be very useful in court to convict the criminals involved in wildlife slaughter which is across much of sub Saharan Africa.
According to the records, there are over 600 rhinos and 20.000 elephants that were killed for their tusks in South Africa only this very year, despite the fact that the wildlife conservation NGO’s have worked hard enough towards lobbying global business leaders to come out in support the cause both morally and materially so as to stop the rampant wildlife slaughter and preserve Africa’s and Asia’s dwindling wildlife resources for future generations. This funding from Google is considered as a gift to wildlife conservation and it is hoped that other global corporate giants will soon do the same thing of helping in funding hugely expensive solutions to monitor endangered wildlife and finance the intended 24/7 surveillance.
East African wildlife NGO’s will soon have to use this technology and find ways to alternate aerial daytime surveillance by fixed wing aircraft with UAV technology that can cover a wider radius of operations with the infra red cameras at night so that there can keep watching even through the night.
