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
A Wildlife Biologist interested in Environment Assessment and Restoration, In-situ and Ex-situ strategies, Technologies used in Conservation and Illegal Wildlife Trade.
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Data Scientist
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I am a biology undergraduate student who is interested in the field of wildlife conservation and has skills in field observation and identification
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worked in wildlife conservation coms, now in live music production incl audio, curious about eco/bioacoustics.
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- @Marti09
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I'm a PhD student and my research focuses on analyzing patterns in mammals poaching occurrences.
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As a fresh electrical engineer, I am passionate about leveraging technology for biodiversity monitoring, logging, and poaching detection in tropical regions.
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My research focuses on using Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) to study endangered species, including carnivores, chiropterans (bats), and lizards, as well as their microbiomes.
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- @Sarah_Stoner
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Intelligence Lead @Go Insight. Intelligence professional, advocating for the use of intelligence and analysis to combat international wildlife trafficking.
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- @eleanorhorvath
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Water Daughter
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- @kristian.cuervo
- | He/Him
Applied Mathematics student in Denmark, interested in applications of mathematics to ecology and nature conservation. Currently interested in developing sensors for perimeter detection in wildlife conservations in Africa.
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- @valengsb
- | she / her
GIS specialist for Audubon Americas | Biologist with an emphasis on Conservation and Sustainable Development | Innovative approaches in the study and monitoring of biodiversity for possible, biodiverse, and just futures.
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Michigan State University
Conservation Criminologist
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Link
A secure platform designed for those working to monitor & protect natural resources. Insight facilitates sharing experience, knowledge & tools to increase efficiency & effectiveness in conservation. By...
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Article
The illegal wildlife trade varies widely regarding species and geographical variance, necessitating niche and tailored research. Against this background, this study on elephant poaching in Tanzania was conducted at the...
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June 2025
event
Nalini
July 2025
September 2024
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Recently updated products
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| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hi Isla, The 3 threats are all situational and location dependent. For example, in South Africa there is a very well established muti industry and huge muti markets in KwaZulu... |
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Wildlife Crime | 8 years 3 months ago | |
| Wildlife Crime group, A set of Training Guidelines for Anti Poaching Field Rangers were launched... |
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Wildlife Crime | 8 years 3 months ago | |
| Hi everyone, Isla has shared the results of this survey in a new article in our Resources area. You can read her full analysis of the survey results here: https... |
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Wildlife Crime | 8 years 6 months ago | |
| That paper is available on Sci Hub. |
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Wildlife Crime | 8 years 9 months ago | |
| I just saw this article about embedding GPS trackers in fake turtle eggs. It reminded me of the Nat Geo story from last year where they did... |
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Wildlife Crime | 8 years 9 months ago | |
| It sounds like @David+Baisch at Conservation X Labs just ordered a SCiO spec and developer's kit to test its sensitivity. They're interested in ... |
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Wildlife Crime | 8 years 9 months ago | |
| Hello all, A new rhino poaching report is out by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime. ... |
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Wildlife Crime | 8 years 10 months ago | |
| Here's a few apps relevant to combatting wildlife crime. 1. ENV- Report Wildlife Crime - This app specifically focuses on... |
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Wildlife Crime | 9 years 1 month ago | |
| Hi Gautam, I think the best way is have them read the thread, and then get back to me with questions - I can then respond on a case-by-case basis. Our website is here:... |
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Wildlife Crime | 9 years 3 months ago | |
| Hi All, Rachel has asked that I tell you a bit about who we are and what we do and how we think we can help this group. We are... |
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Wildlife Crime | 9 years 3 months ago | |
| This post made me wander whether we could employ social media listening tools to identify illegal wildlife trade hotspots, levels, changes in ... |
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Wildlife Crime | 9 years 3 months ago | |
| The Journal of Animal Ecology with the Journal of Applied Ecology and Methods in Ecology and Evolution have published a... |
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Wildlife Crime | 9 years 4 months ago |
How do I get started with collecting mobile digital data to combat Illegal Wildlife Trade?
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Anti-poaching tech vulnerable to cyber attacks, study finds | ITWeb
An academic recommends comprehensive antivirus and regular software updates on anti-poaching tech, amid the risk of cyber attacks.
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CERES TAG
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A Triphibian Surveillance Vehicle
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Hello there
1 July 2022 5:00pm
Program Coordinator - Learning and Leadership for Conservation (LLC)
23 June 2022 2:45pm
New wildlife forensics lab - Singapore
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Solar-powered anti-poaching motorbikes
15 February 2021 12:55pm
5 October 2021 5:05am
Electric motorcycles definitely have advantages in the bush, and I would like to see more of that! Apart from the advantages mentioned by that site, the low speed torque and clutchless nature of electric drives make it a natural for rough terrain.
The bikes you linked to show their purebred sports/competition pedigree. Workhorse motorcycles for the rough look very different, for instance the German and Russian sidecar bikes of WW2, and the scooters used in farms today in SE Asia (especially Vietnam) often tow trailers or have sidecars and they handle offroad conditions well enough. Interdiction in flagrante delecti is where speed and agility are paramount, but I don't know how often that occurs, or if it is desireable.
They sure do look like fun though.
11 October 2021 11:17am
That an additional tool but I imagine that it will be only efficient in open terrain and mostly in southern African rainforest protected area. Not sure that it will be a game changer but might bring new ideas, let see how it goes.
2 April 2022 12:14pm
Thanks for the sharing the information. In India as well solar-powered e-bike for forest guards was piloted (See https://www.thebetterindia.com/267799/nit-karnataka-electric-bike-forest-surveillance-kudremukh-battery-range-specs/). It seems like a good technology but it has to be tested widely on different forest terrains...
Issues in CITES wildlife enforcement information sharing
2 April 2022 10:42am
Survey for Doctoral Research on Poaching in Protected Areas
11 March 2022 8:05pm
26 March 2022 10:57am
I tried to fill it out but it's not letting me finish because all the questions are set to be required? Some of them are not relevant or the info is unknown to me, but not all the questions have this as an answer option. Just something to consider FYI
28 March 2022 7:14pm
Hello. I have reviewed the questions this am and all the questions on the survey that force a response should have a N/A or "I don't know" option. That said, there are still some bugs that I have found with the survey. Please email me at wlz101@psu.edu if you encounter any more issues and I will be happy to address them promptly. Thank you very much for taking the time to complete the survey.
Wendy
Anti-poaching CCTV and boat sensor
21 February 2022 2:02am
5 March 2022 6:06am
Hi,
I've been working on a buoy-mounted underwater acoustic recorder, kinda like what you're talking about. I'll send you a concept note.
-harold
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25 April 2023 5:08pm
greetings!
i sent you a PM regarding this, feel free to contact me however is most convenient for you -
regards,
chris