South Africa to deploy US military radar in fight against Rhino poaching

08/09/2011 11:28:19 US military equipment to be used in fight against rhino poaching
September 2011. Stone Holdings, a specialist security design and concept company, and wildlife monitoring organisation Wildlife ACT have been successful in obtaining licensing for U.S. Military radar technology to be used in the fight against rhino and other wildlife poaching. The group will be bringing it to South Africa this month.

Trials conducted at Sanbona Wildlife Reserve, a private game reserve about two and a half hours drive from Cape Town, South Africa, have proved extremely successful in identifying intruders on foot, in vehicles and in the air in a game reserve or any other fenced-off area.

Intruders
The principle of the system is that it will enable reserve managers and farmers to secure the perimeters of their respective properties and to identify poachers and trespassers before they are even able to enter the area. It will also ensure that intruders are not able to approach rhinos or other animals and in this way will help to minimise the huge losses we are currently experiencing.

Dr. Simon Morgan from Wildlife ACT was optimistic about the process of securing the perimeter of reserves using this technology. "We have to keep up with the rapid advances of the poachers and prevent them from even getting close to the animals, so investigating the use of the capabilities of this type of equipment is important in the efforts against these incursions," he said.

The system will use a three prong approach to the poaching issue, with a military spec radar anchoring the system. Further testing and fine tuning of the application is currently underway to ensure that all scenarios are covered and each installation will need to be custom designed, depending on the geographical layout of the land, and the level of detection that will be required.

 

"South Africa presents a whole new challenge to this system and various adaptations need to be done to ensure that all the challenges are met with positive outcomes," says Morgan.

The final product, produced by the unique partnership between Stone Holdings and Wildlife ACT, will be deployed in the near future and the group is excited about the prospect of eventually being able to have this special technology available to them to fight the war against the slaughter of our rich animal heritage.

Used to monitor USA border and areas in Iraq & Afghanistan
The radar technology is the same as that used by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan and for surveillance on the southern border of the USA and has proven to be vital in the securing of the U.S. military around the world and the Stone Holdings

Wildlife ACT alliance will be unique in using this application on a commercial basis.