Helping solve the wildest crimes

Over 55,000 people have become “virtual rangers,” helping to protect South Africa’s Balule Nature Reserve from poachers. Officials at the reserve teamed up with Samsung and Africam to increase the ability to keep watch over the park, which is home to some of the most vulnerable animals to poaching, including rhinoceros, leopards, and elephants. Camera phones, held in protective cases, are mounted around the reserve and stream images to “virtual rangers” worldwide who have already reported hearing gunshots, which could indicate the possibility of poachers, and seeing trapped animals needing rescue.

Facial recognition technology is now being used to crack down on illegal poaching of chimpanzees, an endangered species. By adapting algorithms for human recognition into a prototype, researchers are hoping to find and protect chimpanzees and other animals that are being illegally traded.

To solve rhinoceros poaching crimes and catch ivory traffickers, researchers in South Africa are finding ways to use genetic fingerprinting and other DNA evidence. These methods that have been the industry standard in the human criminal justice system for decades are not just helping identify criminals. They are also helping identify particularly vulnerable trafficking areas.

In recent years, advances in technologies such as genetics testing, forensic sciences, and online database management have allowed governments and organizations to tackle poaching and the illegal trade of wildlife at a whole new level. Where before law enforcement generally focused on capturing poachers and traders red-handed - usually resulting in the arrest of players low down on the chain - technology is helping investigators target the ringleaders and instigate preventative, rather than reactionary, measures.

Scientists and conservationists reintroduced the pool frog to England after proving that the species was once native to the country but had gone extinct. Members of the species, ranging from tadpoles to mature frogs, were collected in Sweden and then introduced to two different sites in England. The efforts have been successful, with populations dispersing on their own to other locations in the region.

A U.S. company, Flock Safety, has developed a security and surveillance system that allows residents to monitor the color, model, and license plate of every car entering their neighborhood. The system uses car license plate cameras that aren’t monitored by the local police or governments, rather, by residents themselves, to help deter crime. While the system has shown success to the tune of an average of two crimes solved every day, it also raises questions around the problematic nature of surveillance culture, privacy, and profiting off of safety and fear.

John Rucker uses a unique method in the world of conservation: his specially-trained Boykin spaniels area able to seek out turtles. This method helps preserve the lives of threatened turtle species, leading to specialized research and conservation efforts. It also “helps keep the web of life more beautiful and more resilient,” says Rucker.

Vaccination against diseases such as rabies and canine distemper virus in dogs can have positive effects on public health and biodiversity. In Ethiopia, diseases spread from semi-feral dogs threaten communities of the endangered Ethiopian wolf. The non-profit Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Program (EWCP) partners with the government as well as numerous international partners to inoculate dogs and educate villages in public health awareness. EWCP has also undertaken vaccination programs for populations of wolves, as well.

Cheetah cubs are routinely smuggled through Somaliland on their way to being illegally trafficked in United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia. Although small and resource-deprived, Somaliland is taking a stand against this practice through increased regulations and punishments.

A conservation researcher from the Creative Conservation Alliance in Bangladesh has formed a partnership with the Mro people by training them to be parabiologists. They have learned to document and save threatened species. The Chittagong Hill Tracts has some of the greatest biodiversity in Bangladesh, and this work has led to the discovery and preservation of some species previously thought to be extinct.