Global Conservation Cellular Trailcam Networks Protect Endangered World Heritage Wildlife Parks

Global Conservation is deploying Cellular Trailcam Networks to protect endangered World Heritage Wildlife Parks in six developing countries, as well as supporting the development of Trailguard, a next-generation invisible night-vision Trailcam which can identify humans and wildlife species using advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) and LoRA – long-range, low power radio communications.

Cellular Trailcams are becoming critical tools to stop wildlife poaching and illegal logging.  Global Park Defense deployments are relying more on Cellular Trailcams as a primary sensor for stopping illegal logging and wildlife poaching before it happens.

Global Conservation highlights three Global Park Defense deployments in Asia leveraging Cellular Trailcam Networks to provide critical surveillance of these national wildlife parks in three developing countries:

 - Cardamoms National Park, Cambodia

 - Thap Lan World Heritage, Thailand

 - DaMaI World Heritage, Sabah Borneo, Malaysia

Global Conservation recently kicked off Global Park Defense deployment in Borjomi National Park in the Republic of Georgia providing a new Cellular Trailcam Network for surveillance of roads, trails and rivers where hunters and professional poachers are raiding the last remaining wildlife of Georgia’s largest and oldest national park.

Thap Lan World Heritage rosewood poachers caught and camera and arrested.

Cellular Trailcams – A Game Changer where there is a Cellular Network

Cellular Trailcams work especially well in deep forests and jungles where poachers must use common trails and roads to access the forest, as well as in larger areas where Trailcams can monitor key choke points, ridge lines and river crossings.  License plate recognition also helps to identify poachers travelling late at night on roads to pick up hunters and their carcasses.

Trailcams combine electronic sensors, principally night vision triggered by a motion sensor and connected to the Internet by cellular networks used for cellphone communications.

Cellular Trailcams deliver real-time surveillance to your phone or command center. Photo: WPS.

Onboard computers use image recognition algorithms to look for humans in the image and only communicate poacher photos, not animals to achieve longest battery life. Photos are relayed to the park’s law enforcement operations room by either GSM or a low-frequency radio network, where rapid response teams can be dispatched if the threat is real. Photos from Trailcams also are used to inform intelligence gathering and supplement informant networks with headshots of suspected poachers.

Injured baby elephant caught in poacher snare. Photo: Beyond the poaching of charismatic megafauna, the greatest threat to wildlife in the tropics is snaring. In the Serengeti, more than 100,000 wildebeest were caught in snares last year and in other parts of the tropics, the offtake, all illegal, is staggering. Trailcams placed along snaring trails, after snare removal, can catch those who are stripping the wildlife out of the forests.

Cardamoms National Park, Cambodia

The Global Park Defense System (GPDS) used by the Cardamoms National Park and Wildlife Alliance’ anti-poaching units uses motion detecting trail cameras to monitor for people illegally entering the protected forest and patrols are able to intervene immediately when the cameras send live updates. 

Global Conservation has supported the Cardamoms National Park GPDS Program since 2017 with equipment, systems and training.

July 21, 2018 – Trail Camera captures illegal luxury timber in transport in the dark of night. Green Peafowl (Sre Ambel) team received an alert at 02:23 AM from a motion detecting Cellular Trailcam provided by Global Conservation under our Global Park Defense program. The trail cameras are installed on rivers and send pictures to the rangers in real-time, to monitor and intercept suspicious activities. The rangers intercepted the boat and one persons caring luxury timber 3.2 m3 hidden under a veneer of construction timber. The man was prosecuted and jailed for illegal luxury timber transport.

The camera alerted the team at 12:38 AM, showing a picture of a man on a motorbike coming out of the forest. The rangers immediately went to investigate but when the offender saw the rangers he abandoned his motorbike, threw his bag, and disappeared into the forest. Below: Illegal poaching of Asian Turtles.

The Ministry of Environment (MOE) officials are continuing the investigation to identify the owner of the abandoned motorbike. If he is caught, he will face years in prison for wildlife trafficking of a Critically Endangered species.

South East Asia is at the epicenter of the global extinction crisis and the majority of the region’s Protected Areas are ‘paper parks’ with insufficient resources, capacity, or supervision to achieve effective species conservation. Wildlife Alliance delivers a unique and successful model of hands-on direct protection to forests and wildlife which focuses on creating and managing high performance teams of forest rangers.

Wildlife Alliance manages 8 ranger stations with an average of 8,000 of patrols covering 19,552 km each year. These rangers have the responsibility of arresting poachers, dismantling sawmill operations inside protected forest, inhibiting people from grabbing forest land for their private property, and confiscating bulldozers and chainsaws used to illegally cut timber. When offenders are caught, Wildlife Alliance takes a hands-on approach by accompanying offenders to court and following up on all court cases to ensure the proper legal procedures are applied.

Thap Lan World Heritage, Thailand

Global Conservation’s work in Thailand over the past two years has assisted the Parks and Wildlife Department to arrest over 500 illegal loggers in Thap Lan World Heritage Park. 

Global Conservation is supporting Global Park Defense deployment to assist the Government of Thailand and its Department of Parks and Wildlife, in partnership with WCS Thailand, to give the country a fighting chance against international syndicates now raping the last forests of Eastern Thailand for Siamese Rosewood.

The illegal logging operations run by transnational crime syndicates have long enjoyed an advantage over park staff because of superior numbers, funding and weaponry. Global Conservation is funding a multi-year deployment of Global Park Defense against these illegal logging networks combining SMART Patrols, Cellular Trailcams, Command Centers, and violent crime training.

“The fact that in this UNESCO World Heritage Park has over 500 arrests of 100 plus illegal logging teams in the past two years, with many violent confrontations, shows that thousands of illegal loggers are operating today and must be stopped. Without Global Conservation’s support and technology, WCS Thailand training, and the leadership of Thap Lan park authorities, all the rosewood trees and many endangered wildlife species living in the park will be lost,” said Jeff Morgan, executive director of Global Conservation.

The group of suspects arrested after Cellular Trailcam Networks supported by Global Conservation detected alleged illegal activity and alerted officials.

Prior to 2016, Thap Lan saw fewer than 30 arrests and illegal loggers were working without fear of arrest. As most of the labor is from Cambodia, many are just returned to their home country and return the next month. Global Park Defense is focusing on the Thai syndicates, middle men and operators funding and supplying the illegal teams with chainsaws and supplies to work in the park for 5-7 days per logging run.

By increasing the use of Park Protection Technology (i.e., Cellular Trailcams, GPS trackers, and night vision gear) we increase the effectivenes of park ranger teams. In 2017, 50 new Cellular Trailcams were deployed in high threat locations, entry trails, and along the borders of Thap Lan and Pang Srida National Parks to detect the movement of poachers so that park rangers can take near-real-time actions.

The newest versions have facial-recognition technology smart enough to alert rangers to the presence of humans. These cameras allow rangers to monitor multiple remote locations simultaneously and head straight to where poachers are operating. Rangers move the cameras every few weeks to prevent the loggers tracking their locations. Since the authorities introduced cameras in the five national parks in 2017 officials say noticed fewer incursions from poachers.

“They have a practical benefit but also a psychological effect on the poachers,” says Park Director Mr. Chanpradub. “They don’t know where the cameras are and when they are being watched. We believe it’s already scaring off some of the large groups.”

"The cameras have also forced the poachers to adapt. Before, they would come from Cambodia in groups of up to 40, armed with chainsaws and AK-47s. They would set up logging camps inside the parks and stay for two to three weeks. When they finished logging, they would haul the timber out of the national parks, where smugglers in pickup trucks equipped with concealed chambers were waiting to carry the timber to Cambodia.

That sort of large-scale operation has become less practical, thanks to the new cameras. Now, the poachers use less efficient “hit and run” missions, heading into the forest in smaller groups for shorter stays. They cut down trees, mark their location by GPS and dispatch porters to return at night, taking multiple trips to deliver the timber to the trucks. The gangs are also fighting back less frequently, fearing more deadly clashes with the hasadin."

DaMaI World Heritage, Sabah Borneo, Malaysia

Global Conservation has funded the Global Park Defense deployments in DaMai World Heritage using Cellular Trailcams and SMART Patrols helping overstretched ranger teams on daily intrusions by illegal commercial hunters, some local and many from outside.

Cellular Trailcameras provide day and night invisible surveillance of roads, trails and rivers used by wildlife poachers and illegal loggers.

Arrests in Maliau Basin Conservation Area after deployment of real-time Cellular Trailcams show clearly how many poachers are working in the park under the cover of darkness.

A poacher camp found with fire still burning and animal carcasses. The Sabah Forestry PROTECT team confiscated two vehicles, weapons and numerous carcasses of freshly killed sambar deer and wild boar.

Partners implementing Global Park Defense are Sabah Forestry, Yayasan Sabah and Sabah Environmental Trust (SET) who have created a dedicated PROTECT ranger team for the combined Danum Valley - Maliau Basin - Imbak Canyon (DaMaI) park under agreement signed at the Heart of Borneo conference in November 2017.

Wildlife tourism has become a major draw for Sabah, one of the last primary intact forests remaining in Borneo with wild elephants, orangutan, bear, pangolins and tigers.

Last year, over 8,000 kilos of frozen pangolin was found in Kota Kinabalu, a terrible sign that wildlife poaching is at epidemic levels, while the last old growth forests have been lost across Malaysia.

GC Supports Advanced Trailguard 2.0 Development

Trailguard is a powerful low-cost invisible surveillance system to protect against illegal wildlife poaching, logging and mining in UNESCO World Heritage sites and National Parks.

Photo: RESOLVE, Inc.

Trailguard is being developed by Dr. Eric Dickerson of Biodiversity and Wildlife Solutions Program | RESOLVE. With over 30 years experience as Vice President of Science for World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Dr. Dinerstein has developed one of the most cost-effective designs that can potentially change the odds for national parks and wildlife habitats being ravaged by illegal poaching, logging and mining.

Trailguard provides critical ground surveillance in parks where aerial surveillance is not possible due to thick forest canopies. Trailguard works as a ‘Force Multiplier’ enabling rangers and law enforcement to locate and interdict illegal poachers, loggers, miners and intruders clearing forests in the park.  Trailguard also increases the success rates of prosecution providing critical photographic evidence.

Trailguard works with either GSM cellular networks or satellite communications to provide real-time photographs, GPS location and direction of humans entering and leaving surveillance areas.  Rangers are deployed only after receiving confirmed sightings of illegal intruders – ie. groups of poachers, loggers and miners - who are clearly identified on Trailguard systems. 

Trailguard is a force multiplier for under-resourced park rangers creating an invisible barrier that monitors all coming and goings in and out of a national park or wildlife reserve with critical photographic evidence with location and date/time for law enforcement and prosecution.

The Trailguard system consists of electronic sensors, principally cameras – “invisible sentries” – concealed along trails used by poachers to gain access to their killing grounds. Each camera is triggered by the motion of a large animal – much like a conventional camera trap.  However, these are camera traps have the “smarts” to ”phone home” when they see an event they are programed to classify as a threat – a possible poacher.

A TrailGuard photo of two poachers with a bicycle and another with bushmeat on a stick over his shoulders.   Photo credit: Resolve, Inc.

Photo: Resolve, Inc.

The image of the possible threat is transmitted immediately via whichever communication is best suited for the region – and suitable choices exist for territories extending from pangolins to penguins – to the internet and then back to the ground forces responsible for dispatching “rapid response teams” to intercept the poacher BEFORE he kills. 

According to Mongabay, Trailguard units in Tanzania have photographed 40 reserve intruders, including poachers or trespassers, resulting in the arrests of 13 suspects in the first 3 months.

A few minutes past midnight, a camera positioned at an obscure location inside the Grumeti Game Reserve, in the western corridor of the Serengeti ecosystem in Tanzania, captured a blurry photograph of what looked like a man balancing some supplies on his shoulders. The camera relayed the image to computers stationed in Grumeti’s operations room. There, the park’s Special Operations Team, its rapid reaction unit, identified the man as a potential poacher, likely heading toward a camp set up by his gang. The image was a crucial piece of evidence, and the team immediately launched into action. Photo: RESOLVE, Inc.

What makes the TrailGuard different from other camera traps is that once the sensor captures an image, an internal processor uses image recognition algorithms to identify what’s in the frame: an animal, a tree branch or leaf, a human, or a vehicle. If the frame contains people or vehicles, such as a man carrying a gun or bushmeat, or a motorcycle or jeep, the unit relays the photo to a park’s operations room using one of three options: GSM, the technology used for transmitting mobile voice and data; low-frequency radio network in places that have inadequate GSM coverage; or satellite, in situations where the first two options are unavailable.

The camera is designed to send only images selected by its image recognition software, which saves energy, and offers a real-time alert to park rangers. The recipients of the image can then decide if the image warrants a response.

“Our framework is that anything we devise technology-wise has to be cheap, durable, easy-to-use, efficient, and low-power. Or else it won’t be used or it won’t scale,” Dinerstein said.

 “TrailGuards are a force multiplier,” he said. “If you have a park that’s 1,000 square kilometers [386 square miles], it’s still a huge area when you consider the number of guards manning it. By putting up TrailGuards, you may not have a guard post nearby, but you now have a ranger that’s sitting there 24/7 in the form of a TrailGuard. The TrailGuards also ensure that ranger teams are sent out only in response to confirmed triggers. So there’s no waste of effort.”