Google Funds Secret Tech For Hunting Down Poachers
Black Rhino A black rhinoceros in Tanzania. Rhinos are killed at an average rate of one per day because of the belief that their horns cure diseases. The World Wildlife Fund says the leading rhino market is now in Vietnam, where some people apparently believe rhino horn cures cancer. Wikimedia CommonsAerial surveillance, radio tagging and ranger patrols aim to fight poaching in Asia and Africa. Poachers kill a rhino per day, elephants are slaughtered for their ivory, and tiger poachers sell and trade the whole animal--from whiskers to tail, according to the world's leading wildlife welfare agency. Now the World Wildlife Fund is getting some secret weapons of its own to combat the illicit killers. The WWF just received $5 million under Google's new grant program, the Global Impact Awards, with which it plans to use technology like aerial surveillance and radio-frequency ID tags on wild animals. Poaching has been a problem...