Game changer for Rhino poaching
A new anti-poaching device could put Rhino poachers in the spot light.
THE fear of Rhino extinction within the next 20 years may take a back seat thanks to a new anti-poaching device.
The last remaining rhinos on Earth could be fitted with spy cameras in their horns and heart monitors to help catch poachers in a move hailed as a ‘game changer’ by animal protection activists.
It is hoped that the system, which could also be adapted to fit animals like elephants and tigers, will be trialed in South Africa by early next year.
With a rhino killed every six hours in Africa, it is feared the animal could be hunted to extinction by 2035, but a British-made system called Rapid – Real-time Anti-Poaching Intelligence Device – could make all the difference.
The system includes a camera, a heart-rate monitor linked to an alarm and a satellite-tracking device to enable the authorities to scramble a helicopter as soon as a rhino is killed. The camera in the animal’s horn would then be used to provide evidence against the poachers.
Dr Paul O’Donoghue of Chester University, who has worked with endangered Black Rhino populations for more than 15 years, created Rapid following a dramatic surge in rhino poaching.
‘We had to find a way to protect these animals effectively in the field – the killing has to be stopped,’ he said.
‘With this device, the heart-rate monitor triggers the alarm the instant a poaching event occurs, pin-pointing the location within a few metres so that rangers can be on the scene via helicopter or truck within minutes, leaving poachers no time to harvest the valuable parts of an animal or make good an escape.’
According to the conservation group WWF, there were more than 2 000 northern white rhinos in 1960. Today there are just five, with the sole male, Sudan, under constant armed guard in Kenya even though his horns have been removed to deter poachers.
Claire Bass, Executive Director of the Humane Society International UK, who contributed funding to the Rapid project, said the device could be a game changer in the increasingly desperate fight against poaching, and the technology has the potential to be applied to other critically endangered species.
