Surveillance By Drone Could Help Stop Illegal Poaching

Air Shepherd pilots launch a drone to hunt down poachers. (Credit: UAV and Drone Solutions) Every year, poaching claims the lives of roughly 40,000 elephants and 1,200 rhinos, and that number is expected to increase as demand for ivory continues to grow. But in places where drones and humans work in unison, the death toll is drastically reduced. That's the thinking behind Air Shepherd, an initiative backed by the environmental nonprofit Lindbergh Foundation: combining drones, algorithms and human muscle to bring the number of poaching deaths to zero. Zilch. Nada. They’ve already proven it’s possible.