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WILDLABS logoWildlabs.net : The conservation technology network

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Wildlife Crime / Feed

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! 

discussion

Tiger poacher likely convicted due to camera trap evidence

Dave Cortright

23 November 2015 7:24pm

While not a done deal yet, I thought this story on the use of technology to help stop wildlife crime looks very promising. In summary: Thailand police confiscated...

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Stephanie O'Donnell

8 August 2016 11:16am

A new paper in Biological Conservation assesses the efficacy of camera trapping as a tool for increasing detection rates of wildlife crime in tropical protected areas:

The future of biodiversity in Asia is increasingly dependent on networks of effective protected areas. Three wildlife sanctuaries of the Bangladesh Sundarbans are typical examples of protected areas where detection and monitoring of threats is difficult due to low densities of patrol staff and low frequency of patrolling relative to the area that requires monitoring. The aim of this study was to use camera traps to quantify: 1) the levels of different types of illegal human activities (IHA), 2) spatio-temporal variation in illegal human activities, and 3) what proportion of camera trap records can be used to identify perpetrators. Each photograph was categorized as either illegal human activity (IHA) or legal human activity (LHA) based on interpretation of the particular human activity and equipment observed in photograph. For IHA, infraction type was based on the Bangladesh Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act 2012. A total of 914 unique human activity events were recorded (872 IHA and 42 LHA) in camera trap photos over a total of 1039 trap nights. The best model suggests that during spring tide 91% of camera trapped locations in the West Sanctuary had IHA occurring in them during the survey period, while 84% and 74% locations had IHA in the South Sanctuary and East Sanctuary respectively. Camera trapping in remote areas can potentially help protected area managers to increase rates of detection of IHA in their conservation landscapes and increase rates of arrests and prosecutions by providing appropriate supporting evidence.

I'm interested to hear from the community on this one - are you using camera traps for purposes other than wildlife monitoring? 

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discussion

Ivory ID using portable molecular sensors?

Rachel Kramer

1 July 2016 4:01pm

I was recently introduced to portable molecular sensors at a conference. One example is Consumer Physics' SCiO. Does anyone have experience using portable molecular...

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Peter Apps

12 July 2016 7:37pm

There are so few details on the link that it is not possible to judge whether that particualr hardware will be any use for anything. I suspect that it used near infra-red which has some applications for bulk anayses of foods but I doubt that it could distinguish different types of animal ivory. It might be able to discriminate between vegetable and animal ivory.

Rachel Kramer

26 July 2016 4:40pm

Thanks, @Peter+Apps . I reached out to ConsumerPhysics for more information. They said that scanning animal ivories for identification purposes is likely to be feasible with SCiO and that others may be considering this application as well. 

They confirmed that SCiO uses NIR spectroscopy for classification between different substances, providing that the molecular fingerprints are different enough from each other. It sounds like they did a basic feasibility test that "showed promise in classifying ivory samples from different kinds of animals - elephant, mammoth, hippopotamus and walrus, as well as plastic mock-ivory samples. The corresponding molecular sensing models and applications will have to be developed further for better insight. This may be developed in the future either by us or by the SCiO developer community using the SCiO Development Toolkit, which allows users to create models and apps." 

They suggested that a user would need to take two things into consideration when working toward this application: "First, as SCiO’s detection threshold varies by material, and is typically 0.1%-1%, some micro-nutrients will not be detectable. This requires further research. In addition, it should be noted that building the database for such an application requires access to samples and their chemical characteristics."  

More info on DevKit SDK is online here: https://www.consumerphysics.com/myscio/developers/ and here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wDLSF0ZkIA. I have no experience with this technology and no connection to ConsumerPhysics, but it sounds interesting.

I think this could be a good research project for someone in the WILDLABS community. With the scope of our network, gaining access to samples should not be a challenge.

Rachel Kramer

26 July 2016 7:06pm

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 seeing whether the device can be used to differentiate beteween tree species in treated and untreated wood products. Looking forward to learning more about that process!

 

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event

Video: Discover the SMART Approach

The SMART Partnership

20 July 2016 12:00am

The Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART) Partnership combines a ranger-based data collection tool with capacity building and a suite of best practices aimed at helping protected area and wildlife managers...

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article

Can Drones Live up to the Hype?

Paul Glover-Kapfer

8 July 2016 12:00am

Drones are being explored for a spectrum of applications in conservation that include mapping, biodiversity inventories, antipoaching patrols, wildlife tracking and fire monitoring. However, questions remain about...

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article

TEAM Network and Wildlife Insights

Eric Fegraus

28 April 2016 12:00am

Operating the largest tropical forest camera trap network globally, TEAM Network has accumulated over 2.6 million images. How can large datasets coupled with new techniques for data management and analysis provide...

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discussion

Wildlife Crime Apps

John Probert

13 April 2016 3:46pm

Here's a few apps relevant to combatting wildlife crime. 1. ENV- Report Wildlife Crime - This app specifically focuses on wildlife crime in Vietnam. You can report...

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article

Bringing Conservation Technology to Life

Shah Selbe

17 February 2016 12:00am

We are living in the midst of a pretty exciting era. Never before has humanity been more educated, more connected, more enabled, or more empowered than we are today. There are many reasons to be optimistic about the...

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discussion

JIGZAW and Mars Omega, an introduction

Anthony Franks

2 February 2016 3:17pm

Hi All, Gautam has asked that I tell you a bit about who we are and what we do. The three Mars Omega Partners are all senior ex-British Army officers, with backgrounds in...

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Gautam Shah

3 February 2016 4:44am

Thanks Anthony - what is the best way to introduce others to your product and solutions?  I live in Kenya - can you disclose who you are working with here?

With regards to a scale up partner, can you provide a few more details on what you are looking for?

Gautam!

Anthony Franks

3 February 2016 10:08am

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: http://www.marsomega.com.  We have not yet updated it to make public our involvement in countering wildlife crime, but that will be done shortly.

On disclosure, Hamish is actually in Kenya from tomorrow, and he is talking to our Kenyan partners to make sure they are happy to have this information made more freely available.  We necessarily are being very discreet.

On scaling - as one of the 16 Prize WInners in the Wildlfe Criem Tech Challenge, we have only just started talking to the competition sponsors about acceleration and scaling.  Once we have established that process and have more information ourselves, I will be happy to discuss this further.

Best regards,

Anthony

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discussion

Illegal wildlife sales on social media

Rachel Kramer

4 January 2016 3:56pm

A great example of enforcement where illegal wildlife sales were detected on social media:  Facebook Investigation Leads to Turtle Thieves An...

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Jessica Sweeney

26 January 2016 4:14pm

This post made me wander whether we could employ social media listening tools to identify illegal wildlife trade hotspots, levels, changes in attitude towards IWT products etc.? Perhaps already being done? Here's some case studies from Brandwatch of how brands are using social media listening: https://www.brandwatch.com/case-studies/

 

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article

Gaming for Good: Minecraft and Quiz Up

Peter Jacobs

3 December 2015 12:00am

Can games have real world impacts on issues like the illegal wildlife trade? In part two of his case study for the Gaming for Conservation Group, Peter Jacobs discusses United for Wildlife's efforts to engage young...

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article

Technology for Traceability

Daniel Brizuela and 1 more

26 November 2015 12:00am

Traceability (knowing where products come from and how they are made) is a foundational pre-cursor for many sustainability interventions. While many tools have been developed to offer high-level insight about the...

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article

Gaming for Good: Runescape and Angry Birds

Peter Jacobs

25 November 2015 12:00am

Can games raise awareness of conservation issues like the illegal wildlife trade? In part one of his case study for the Gaming for Conservation Group, Peter Jacobs discusses how United for Wildlife is partnering with...

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article

What is eDNA?

Sarah Kuppert

2 November 2015 12:00am

Environmental DNA (eDNA) is nuclear or mitochondrial DNA that is released from an organism into the environment. Sources of eDNA include secreted faeces, mucous, gametes, shed skin, hair and carcasses. In this article,...

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Jonathan Carlo Briones

1 August 2025 10:14am

Great read! We have examples in the Philippines where the gov't was able to regulate false claims on dried fishery products using eDNA. Hopefully, such practices dont become...
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