Post date: Dec 17, 2012 3:33:2 PM
South Africa is taking to the skies in its fight against rhino poaching, with a hi-tech aircraft specially designed for the job. Rhino populations have been hit hard by illegal hunters in recent years and it's hoped the plane will help stabilise the species by detecting poachers before they strike.
SHOWS: KRUGER NATIONAL PARK, SKUKUZA, SOUTH AFRICA (RECENT) (REUTERS) - South Africa has taken its war against rhinoceros poaching to the skies with the deployment of a hi-tech, low-speed reconnaissance aircraft to detect criminals before they strike. The aircraft, named Seeker, is equipped with sophisticated heat sensors to detect poachers and a quiet engine to aid pilots and spotters as they fly at high altitudes over the flagship Kruger National Park, where most of the rhino killings take place.
The aircraft was donated to South Africa National Parks by Ivor Ichikowitz, executive chairman of Africa's largest privately held defence firm, Paramount, which manufactured the small plane. National Parks staff are reluctant to reveal details of how the technology works, fearing the information could be used by the poachers to undermine detection efforts.South Africa, home to nearly all the rhinos on the continent, has been at the frontline of a poaching plague in which criminals using high-powered weapons, helicopters and night vision goggles have been killing the animals for their horns, which sell as a traditional medicine in Asia at prices higher than gold.
"The aircraft has an aerial capability, to be able to attach whatever equipment that we need for specific times and specific purposes. It will gather intelligence, it will also assist us in terms of dealing with all the other channels of poaching that we might have so it's less noisy, nimble and quite agile," saidDavid Mabunda, chief executive officer for South Africa National Parks.
By December 558 rhinos had been killed in 2012 by poachers, with 364 of the deaths in Kruger - a park roughly the same size as Israel. The death toll has already hit a new annual record, surpassing the 448 killed in 2011.
South Africa has deployed its military to protect rhinos but this has not proved enough to curb international crime syndicates.
The number of rhinos lost from unnatural deaths in South Africa, either through illegal poaching or legal hunts, has now reached a level likely to lead to population decline, according to expert studies. "Rhinos are part of our system and engineering of ecosystems and as such we can't afford to lose them they are really critical to the balance of nature that we have in the country," said Mabunda.
Poaching increased dramatically from 2007 onwards as a growing affluent class in China, Vietnam andThailand began spending more on rhino horns. A rumour that powdered rhino horn cured cancer went viral in Vietnam, helping drive the Javan rhinoceros to extinction in Vietnam last year. The health claim has no basis in either science or traditional Chinese medicine.
The aircraft is one of a number of airborne schemes being used in the fight against international poaching. Google are funding World Wildlife Fund (WWF) drones in efforts to protect rhinos, tigers and elephants in Africa and Asia.
The small autonomous aircraft is controlled via a tablet computer, photographing poachers and tracking animals via smart radio tags.