The United States, a major ivory market The sale of ivory across international boundaries has been banned since 1990, when the African elephant was listed among species prohibited for commercial…
Keeping equipment running in harsh field conditions can challenge any tech project, as can working successfully with volunteers. Some projects have to manage both. A recent Wildtech post describes wpsWatch,…
For the last two years, a U.S. non-profit and local partners in South Africa have quietly been catching wildlife poachers using remote cameras connected to a unique cross-continent volunteer monitoring…
The global poaching crisis has induced large segments of the conservation community to call for far tougher law enforcement. Many look to policing lessons from decades of counter-narcotics efforts for…
PALEMBANG, Indonesia -- Wildlife activists in Indonesia suspect poachers poisoned an elephant found with its tusks hacked off in a protected forest in southern Sumatra. The body of the male…
MEDAN, Indonesia — A court in Indonesia has sentenced three men, including a former soldier, to two years in jail for illegally trading in body parts from a critically endangered…
Authorities protecting rhinos in Africa now have a tool to help them catch poachers based on fine-scale differences in the DNA of different individuals. The Rhino DNA Index System, or RhODIS…
Last Tuesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lifted a ban on importing elephant trophies from Zimbabwe imposed under President Barack Obama in 2014. At a meeting of government officials…
In a first for the species, several black rhinos in Tanzania’s Mkomazi National Park have had small, networked sensors embedded directly in their horns in order to allow park rangers…
Constructive engagement with concerns about the rise in militarized forms of conservation are very welcome. I currently run a four-year project funded by the European Research Council, BIOSEC, which explores…
Over the past few months, a few academics have released a tide of articles (for example here, here, and here) criticizing what they call the “militarization of conservation,” but their…
The USAID Wildlife Crime Tech Challenge announced three winners of an Acceleration Prize worth US $100,000 for demonstrating rapid progress in developing a wildlife crime solution system. The Challenge previously…
Snow leopards (Panthera uncia) are known for their elusive ways. Even people who share the mountains with the silvery felines seldom spot them. In spring 2014 a crew of filmmakers…
The latest update to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, released today, finds that even species once considered so abundant as to…
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - One of Africa’s top ivory trade investigators has been shot dead by gunmen in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Wayne Lotter was the co-founder and President…
Every year on August 12, the world celebrates elephants, but recent years have not been great for these iconic animals. According to research published last year, the African elephant population…
Ballooning demand for pangolin scales and meat has driven the hunting of these armored animals up at least 145 percent in Central Africa since before 2000, according to a new…
HOEDSPRUIT, South Africa – Vince Barkas, a grizzled high-school dropout with a sharp tongue and piercing blue eyes, is at war in the grasslands and savannas here in northeast South…
LAHAD DATU, Malaysia – The rhino breeding center near the entrance to Danum Valley Conservation Area sits like an oasis of calm against the cacophony of beeps, woots and zaps…
Anti-poaching efforts in Africa are inherently dangerous, especially given the increasing militarization of the poaching gangs that are decimating elephant and rhino numbers across the continent. But recent news out…
