6 technologies that protect endangered animals from poachers

By Cat DiStasio

Just about everyone with internet access spent last week reading about crimes against animals happening in far-flung places on the globe. If that sort of news moves you, it might leave you feeling a bit small and helpless. Luckily, there are a number of organizations doing fantastic work to protect wild animals from poachers -- and they could use your help. You can do something as simple as donating your old cellphone to turn it into an anti-poaching detection system. Most solutions designed to conserve wildlife focus on tracking the movements of protected animals and vigilantly warding off potential dangers. However, intrepid conservationists are also using everything from 3D printing to poisonous pink dyes to ward off hunters. Read on for six technologies that protect endangered animals -- and help support the organizations working on the ground to protect these majestic creatures.

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Do-good drones

Drone technology is turning out to be useful for all sorts of things, and the fight against wildlife poaching is one of them. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) leads the Wildlife Crime Technology Project using aerial drones to track the movements of poachers, who frequently hunt after dusk using night-vision goggles and other high-tech equipment. The project began in 2013 with two drones; by the end of the year there should be four pairs of drones in the air. A $5 million grant from Google funds the program, which is currently helping rangers in Namibia's Etosha National Park and others to track and hopefully interfere with the actions of poachers seeking to bring down elephants, giraffes, rhino and other "prizes" in these wildlife sanctuaries. If you'd like to support the WWF's efforts, click here.