Wildlife Crime | WILDLABS

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Wildlife crime is a complicated challenge, so it's no wonder that the conservation technology community has explored solutions with every type of technology, all with the aim of predicting, preventing, and stopping crimes like poaching, illegal logging and fishing, and the sale of animal products like ivory. Join our Wildlife Crime group to meet others who are working on potential solutions to this global challenge and to add your own expertise to the conversation!

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Wildlife crime is one of the greatest challenges facing conservation, and one of the conservation tech world's biggest areas of innovation. With new ideas and solutions constantly being put forth to track and protect species targeted by poachers, manage protected areas and support rangers, and combat the growing online market for illegal wildlife products, the engineers and conservationists working to solve wildlife crime's many challenges rely on tools like machine learning, biologging, camera traps, acoustic monitoring, drones, mobile apps, and more.

This wide variety of overlapping technology makes our Wildlife Crime group a potential melting pot for many of our other communities, and makes it an especially exciting place to find collaborators working in different tech spheres to meet a common goal. Whether you're a camera trap expert looking for information on thermal vision to spot potential poachers, a machine learning expert with the skills to analyze acoustic data for gunshots, or a protected area manager seeking the latest integrated mobile tools, this group can connect you with the right members of our community!

Below, you'll find WILDLABS resources and conversations to help you understand how different technologies are being put to work in the fight against wildlife crime, and what conservation tech practitioners need for these tools to be effective.

Three Tutorials and Videos for Beginners:

How do I use AI to fight wildlife crime? | Lily Xu, Tech Tutors
WWF Wildlife Crime Technology Project | Eric Becker, Virtual Meetups
SmartParks | Laurens de Groot, Virtual Meetups

Three Forum Threads for Beginners:

Snare detection technologies | Rachel Kramer
Tools for conservation management | Chris Muashekele
Looking for Intelligence Database Software | Dexter Oelrichs

Three Articles for Beginners:

Using AIS data to investigate the world's fishing ports, Max Schofield
How do Wildlife Crime Experts view Remote Sensing Technologies used to Combat Illegal Wildlife Crime?, Isla Duporge
Metal Detecting Sensors for Anti-Poaching, Sam Seccombe

Join this group now to get to know our community and start discussing solutions and ideas together!

Header photo: © Frank af Petersens/Save the Elephants

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@nadyam
| she/her

Michigan State University

Conservation geneticist at Michigan State University. Co-founder of iCatch. Solving problems in monitoring, traceability, and enforcement through rapid species identification tech.

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3 Discussions
6 Groups

@nlubcker
| Dr

Results-Driven R&D Project Manager | Data scientist | I'm a versatile professional with 10 years of global experience in conservation and research.

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1 Discussions
7 Groups

@mariahmeek
| she/her

Michigan State University

Dr. Mariah Meek is the PI and co-founder of iCatch, an Associate Professor at Michigan State University, and the Director of Research at The Wilderness Society.

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5 Groups

@ConradHarley

Heading up comms for a conservation agency based in the United Arab Emirates

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6 Groups

@CalumRyan
| He/Him

Intern at Fauna & Flora working on the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART)

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4 Groups

@cassidyregan

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16 Groups

@Maureen

Tech 4 Conservation

President, Tech 4 Conservation

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7 Discussions
18 Groups

@Drue_Freeman

Partner in Conservation at WWF

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17 Discussions
6 Groups

@gzlazzari
| she/her

I am a master's student working with the Genetics, Evolution, Ecology and Conservation of Carnivores Research Group at PUCRS/Brazil. I am especially interested in molecular techniques to answer genetic, ecological and forensic questions about jaguars.

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@hudaYIARI

Wildlife conservationist

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11 Groups

@celiamay

I am a geneticist with a long term interest in using DNA markers to combat wildlife crime.

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@ecp

PhD student with research focused on using on-site DNA sequencing for rapid species identification. Interested in wildlife forensics, and conservation genomics.

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Article

Opportunity to participate in study on what counts as evidence in conservation

Alec Christie

Please help us by participating in a MSc research project on what you consider to be 'evidence' in your work in conservation.

19 June 2025

Careers

SPOTS Internship Programme

Georg Strunck

Strategic Protection Of Threatened Species (NGO) is looking for engineering interns at the Dinokeng Game Reserve, South Africa

6 February 2025

Article

INSTANT DETECT 2.0 - ALPHA TESTING

Sam Seccombe

The worst thing a new conservation technology can do is become another maintenance burden on already stretched field teams. This meant Instant Detect 2.0 had to work perfectly from day 1. In this update, Sam Seccombe...

28 January 2025

Article

INSTANT DETECT 2.0 – THE OPTIMISATION YEARS

Sam Seccombe

The Zoological Society of London's Instant Detect 2.0 is the world's first affordable satellite connected camera trap system designed by conservationists, for conservationists. In this update, Sam Seccombe describes the...

21 January 2025

Funding

Calling for applications for Round 3 of our Satellites for Biodiversity Award Grant

Emma Oldham

The Connected Conservation is thrilled to announce our award's third round in collaboration with the Airbus Foundation. This award champions the use of cutting-edge satellite imagery to tackle biodiversity loss and...

30 September 2024

Funding

Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund (GBP 20,000 - 1,500,000)

Henry Rees

IWT Challenge Fund Evidence grants, ranging from £20,000 to £1,500,000, is a UK government grants scheme that provides support to innovative and scalable projects to reduce pressure on wildlife from illegal trade and,...

20 August 2024

Article

Enter to win a free thermal camera!

Alex Rood

WILDLABS is partnering with FLIR to give away a FLIR ONE Edge Pro to 5 community members.

26 June 2024

Article

Case Study: Drone-based radio-tracking of Eastern Bandicoots

Wildlife Drones

Wildlife Drones was deployed by Zoos Victoria in a trial project tracking captive-bred Eastern Barred Bandicoots that were tagged and released into the wild

14 June 2024

Article

New WILDLABS Funding & Finance group

Frank van der Most

WildLabs will soon launch a 'Funding and Finance' group. What would be your wish list for such a group? Would you be interested in co-managing or otherwise helping out?

5 June 2024

Funding

Apply! 2024 Conservation Tech Award

Jordan Steward

Now accepting applications for two $15,000 grants to help protect wildlife through cutting-edge, technology-driven efforts

3 June 2024

Funding

International Elephant Foundation call for $15K projects

Frank van der Most

The IEF's Elephant Conservation and Research Funding Support Program has opened a call for applications. Average grant size is $15K, whereas the IEF funds 20 to 25 projects per year.

22 May 2024

Article

Share Your Work in a Conservation Technology Video

Robin Marti Sarasa

Do you have photos and videos of your conservation tech work? We want to include them in a conservation technology showcase video

17 May 2024

Description	Activity	Replies	Groups	Updated
Use of acoustics to combat wildlife crime // Uso de acústica para combatir delitos contra la vida silvestre	Hey Xiona,I see that you are from a university that is very close to where I live. I have a platform that is well suited for combating wildlife crime and I perceive that it’s...	+5	Wildlife Crime, Acoustics, Latin America Community	7 months 2 weeks ago
Mass Detection of Wildlife Snares Using Airborne Synthetic Radar	Hats off to your team for this absolute game-changing technology! We rescue stray and wild animals in Taiwan, and the bulk of our work is saving animals maimed by wire snares...	+37	AI for Conservation, Drones, Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Coexistence, Wildlife Crime	8 months 3 weeks ago
Illegal logging - chainsaws versus trucks	Because spotting the trucks on the roads is trivial. You could do it from 150m or further away in complete darkness. If this interests someone then I have a solution to do that.		Wildlife Crime	10 months ago
Roe deer protection needed in Hungary, national government should stop funding hunting organizations - call for international support	Thanks, we know they are breeding these animals here, I asked, since it's seems to be an expensive hobby, we need to allocate more funding for rural women in entrepreneurship and...		Acoustics, Animal Movement, Citizen Science, Human-Wildlife Coexistence, Protected Area Management Tools, Wildlife Crime	10 months ago
Technology for Counter Wildlife Crime experts for course	Re:Wild and some of their partners have set up SMART (www.smartconservationtools.org) at several locations in the Caribbean, e.g.,and WCS has successfully implemented SMART-based...		Wildlife Crime, Conservation Tech Training and Education	11 months 1 week ago
Drones for IUU (illegal fishing activities & vessel monitoring)	Hi all,maybe it helps 😉 My free manual 'Drones in Biomonitoring' - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8077113 can help to get (more) knowledge how to proceed easily and successfully...		Drones, Marine Conservation, Wildlife Crime	1 year ago
Call for Problem Statements! Zoohackathon 2017	This is great!!!!! Thank you for sharing		Wildlife Crime	1 year 1 month ago
Measurements for species vulnerability to overharvesting	Hello guys,I'm looking into the topic of measuring species vulnerability to overharvesting of species in trade. I am exploring existing...		Ending Wildlife Trafficking Online, Marine Conservation, Wildlife Crime	1 year 2 months ago
Snare detection technologies	I am interested in expanding our capability and understanding of snare detection by canines. We have two canines working in Asia that have successfully detected snares in training...	+16	Wildlife Crime	1 year 4 months ago
Species ID Needs?	Hi Scott, thanks so much for sharing your thoughts here! It would be great to learn more about this, would you be interested in finding a time to chat? Thanks!		Marine Conservation, Sustainable Fishing Challenges, Wildlife Crime	1 year 5 months ago
Passionate engineer offering funding and tech solutions pro-bono.	Hi Danilo. you seem very passionate about this initiative which is a good start.It is an interesting coincidence that I am starting another project for the coral reefs in the...		Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Animal Movement, Camera Traps, Citizen Science, Climate Change, Community Base, Connectivity, Drones, Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Coexistence, Open Source Solutions, Sensors, Software Development, Wildlife Crime, Funding and Finance	1 year 6 months ago
How are Outdoor Fire Detection Systems Adapted for Small Forest Areas, Considering the Predominance of Indoor Fire Detectors?	Fire detection is a sort of broad idea. Usually people detect the products of fire, and most often this is smoke.Many home fire detectors in the US use a radioactive source...		Community Base, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Data management and processing tools, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Human-Wildlife Coexistence, Open Source Solutions, Protected Area Management Tools, Sensors, Wildlife Crime	1 year 6 months ago