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
- @JakobWiren
- | He,him
Swedish soon-to-be graduate engineer in AI/ML and robotics. Writing my master thesis in using decision trees for anti-poaching in Limpopo, South Africa. Am passionate about conservation, AI and travelling. Help me find a way to help you!
- 0 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 13 Groups
- @Freaklabs
- | He/Him
Freaklabs
I'm an engineer and product designer working on wildlife conservation technology.
- 0 Resources
- 302 Discussions
- 20 Groups
Ol Pejeta Conservancy
Endeavoring to implement tech solutions for conservation.
- 0 Resources
- 18 Discussions
- 11 Groups
Liverpool John Moores University
Sensors, remote sensing, embedded systems, Drones
- 0 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 7 Groups
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- 9 Groups
- @jmasseloux
- | She/Her
Programme Coordinator and M&E Specialist at ZSL Thailand
- 0 Resources
- 3 Discussions
- 2 Groups
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 10 Groups
- @Laila
- | she
I am a biologist specialized in animal behavior and welfare, with extensive experience in project management related to conservation and wildlife protection. My work focuses on research and implementing strategies to prevent species trafficking, enhance transnational cooperation,
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 1 Groups
- @TMaroulis
- | He
Farmer/Engineer looking to apply technology to the rangelands
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 3 Groups
Data Scientist/AI Engineer, Birdwatcher, Trail Runner: here to learn about conservation tech & contribute where I can.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 11 Groups
An electrical engineer creating scalable tech for conservation.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 3 Groups
- @Aurel
- | She/Her
Looking to reconcile biodiversity conservation and finance.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 10 Groups
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
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
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
Article
The Inventory User Guide
Jake Burton
Read in detail about how to use The Inventory, our new living directory of conservation technology tools, organisations, and R&D projects.
1 May 2024
June 2025
event
Nalini
July 2025
September 2024
June 2024
April 2024
event
Wildlife Drones
42 Products
1 R&D Projects
41 Organisations
Recently updated products
Recently updated R&D Projects
Recently updated organisations
| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The European project Nature FIRST is hosting its final conference at Ouwehands Dierenpark in the Netherlands on 25–26 June 2025,... |
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Community Base, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Data management and processing tools, Earth Observation 101 Community, Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Protected Area Management Tools, Wildlife Crime | 7 hours 47 minutes ago | |
| Hi Georg,Oh, that's a pity. But thanks anyway for checking!Really appreciate it!CheersMartina |
+10
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Wildlife Crime | 1 week 2 days ago | |
| Hi Adam! Sounds like you have your work cut out for you. I have not used radar systems or AI systems for this sort of detection, but there are methods using change detection... |
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AI for Conservation, Drones, Wildlife Crime | 1 month ago | |
| Hi @iainmcnicol , welcome to WILDLABS! Thanks for posting this on here. I have shared with my colleagues at Fauna & Flora who have some experience (especially with the... |
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Community Base, Geospatial, Protected Area Management Tools, Wildlife Crime | 1 month 1 week ago | |
| Great dear Travis,This is a great news and an opportunity to me and my local bee keepers. It really sounds very helpful.Here is my contacts:Email: muganyizi@pales.or.tz ... |
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Climate Change, Conservation Tech Training and Education, East Africa Community, Funding and Finance, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Wildlife Crime | 1 month 2 weeks ago | |
| You can also check out WWF's newly launched C2C: Conflict to Coexistence approach. It provides a framework and methodology for developing tailor-made human-wildlife conflict (HWC... |
+2
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Wildlife Crime | 3 months 1 week ago | |
| Not a book, but a very real documentary:Stroop - Journey into the Rhino Horn War |
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Wildlife Crime | 3 months 2 weeks ago | |
| Thank you so much for sharing! They seem to only state the official DFFE statistics nowadays. From my connections in SouthAfrica these numbers don't always seem to reflect... |
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Wildlife Crime | 3 months 2 weeks ago | |
| 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
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Wildlife Crime, Acoustics, Latin America Community | 4 months 3 weeks ago | |
| 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... |
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AI for Conservation, Drones, Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Wildlife Crime | 6 months ago | |
| 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. |
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Wildlife Crime | 7 months 1 week ago | |
| 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... |
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Acoustics, Animal Movement, Citizen Science, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Protected Area Management Tools, Wildlife Crime | 7 months 1 week ago |
Technical Difficulties: Expect the Unexpected
Eric Becker
and 1 more
27 October 2021 12:00am
Technical Difficulties: Cleared for Takeoff
Eric Becker
and 1 more
20 October 2021 12:00am
Technical Difficulties: Understanding the Realities
Eric Becker
and 1 more
13 October 2021 12:00am
NParks opens Singapore’s first Centre for Wildlife Forensics
20 September 2021 12:00am
Tech Tutors: How do I use AI to fight wildlife crime?
1 September 2021 10:59pm
Looking for - Intelligence Database Software
14 June 2021 11:01am
8 July 2021 8:31am
Hi Dexter
We have a bunch of tools for you guys at Natual-solutions.eu ...
Ave a look at https://geonature.fr/ its alll open source, we can translate it all for you if needed ...
Please fell free to email us at
contact@natural-solutions.eu
9 July 2021 12:56am
Thank you very much! I'll email you now.
Announcing the 2021 CLP Team Award Winners
17 May 2021 12:00am
It Takes a #Tech4Wildlife Community
17 May 2021 12:00am
Getting Started with Conservation Dogs: An Interview with Paul Bunker
Ellie Warren
and 1 more
7 May 2021 12:00am
Ecognize: A platform for environmental and conservation issue reporting
8 April 2021 11:47pm
16 April 2021 10:52pm
Update (April 16): I just open-sourced the code at https://github.com/ecognize-hub/ecognize. I released it under the Apache 2.0 license so it can be used for pretty much anything, including commercial use.
Webinar: 'Advances in use of SMART approach, tools and technology'
The SMART Partnership
12 March 2021 12:00am
How do I strategically allocate drones for conservation?
WILDLABS Team
8 February 2021 12:00am
Protecting Wildlife with Machine Learning
29 January 2021 12:00am
New Paper: Empowering Rangers Through Technology and Innovation
27 January 2021 12:00am
Survey for Wildlife Conservation: Do We Need Hand of Technology?
27 December 2020 3:35pm
How do I use open access remote sensing data to monitor fishing?
WILDLABS Team
24 November 2020 12:00am
Webinar: Getting Started With SMART
The SMART Partnership
11 November 2020 12:00am
Hackathon Opportunity: Vaquita Hacks
10 November 2020 12:00am
[Webinar series] Wildlife Crime is Financial Crime: A collaborative approach in the fight against wildlife crime
15 October 2020 10:16am
Designing a Camera Mount with FLIR and WWF
24 August 2020 12:00am
WWF US Conservation Leadership Award
13 August 2020 12:00am
Challenge: ElephantEdge
11 August 2020 12:00am
Metal Detecting Sensors for Anti-Poaching
10 August 2020 12:00am
Recognising illegally-traded animal body parts
18 June 2020 7:32pm
31 July 2020 2:30pm
Hi Sara and Debbie,
Just wanted to chime in here since I actually worked on this exact project several years ago when I was an intern at WWF.
We used scans from a near infrared spectrometer to classify ivory. The model was able to distinguish between fake and real ivory, including even distinguishing between elephant ivory and mammoth ivory. My manager for the internship, Rachel Kramer, had done all the hard work of collecting hundreds of scans of ivory samples from various museum collections and ivory that had been seized.
I am happy to share more details about the project if you are interested. Unfortunately I did not get to see it through because I was only working there for one summer three years ago, but I now work as a data scientist and so I have a lot more experience with this type of modeling.
31 July 2020 3:04pm
Very cool! It makes total sense to use a more informative sensor like a spectrometer for this. I'm not surprised to hear that WWF was interested! Do you know if the model you trained is being used anywhere?
31 July 2020 5:28pm
I am really curious! I will ask my old manager and get back to you.
FIT Identification - Possibilities for use as an anti-poaching tool?
13 July 2020 10:43pm
Tech4Wildlife News: SMART Mobile
23 June 2020 12:00am
We want to provide tracking and surveillance tech FOC to catch poachers.
14 October 2019 3:22pm
14 October 2019 11:57pm
I RUN THE GLOBAL WILDLIFE WARRIORS NETWORK COMPRISED OF 30 ONLINE LOCATIONS IN 30 COUNTRIES WITH A LARGE TEAM OF ADMINISTRATORS. WE ALSO HAVE ADMINS THAT ARE ANTI-POACHING RANGERS IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF AFRICA. LAST YEAR GWW REACHED OVER 5,000,000 PEOPLE. THAT IS ALWAYS GWW'S MAIN GOAL, OUTREACH! AS WE BELIEVE THAT THIS WAR TO PROTECT WILDLIFE WILL BE WON ONCE THE CREED OF CONSERVATION REACHES CRITICAL MASS GLOBALLY
21 April 2020 11:11am
Hello MH, can we get into contact what edge devices (camera traps, CCTV or other sensing) you might have? we are working on the frontline of technology as a force mutliplier for ant-poaching units mostly in southern africa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOWW0LwKc0g
thank you and regards
Wolf
17 June 2020 3:55pm
Hi Richard, I've been working with Kerinci Seblat National Park in Sumatra for the better part of 20 years focusing primarily to countering tiger and other wildlife poaching and IWT in/around one of the largest national parks in Asia, might be good to talk, at very least you would have a better idea of some of the issues our ranger teams face.
Innovator Interview: Hack the Poacher
4 June 2020 12:00am
World Bank Conservation Tech Survey
3 June 2020 2:46pm
WILDLABS Tech Hub: WWF PandaSat
13 April 2020 12:00am
22 June 2021 1:48am
Hi Phil,
Thank you very much! I had not considered them but they are a viable option for sure! The biggest concern would be the security of storing sensitive information online via AWS (or alternative) but lets see if there is a solution.
I'll dig around and come back to you on it! Have a great day