Google Is Funding A Massive Effort To Stop African Rhino Poaching

Last year, the Zoological Society of London became one of the first winners of Google's inaugural Global Impact Challenge, which offers significant funding for social entrepreneurship organizations that hope to tackle "the world's toughest problems and transform lives." The London Zoo presented a plan to do exactly that for Kenya's rhinos, by installing hundreds of motion-detecting camera traps in one of the country's national parks. Now, with £500,000 provided by Google, the zoo is finally able to implement its long-in-the-works plan to save lives.

"The Impact award helped us achieve our vision and our dream. We knew what we wanted to do in the field but we didn't have the support to do it," said Alasdair Davies, the ZSL's technical director, according to the International Business Times. "Once we won the award we worked with Google to develop the prototype camera trap."

The team that developed the camera will install 100 across Kenya's Tsavo West National Park this summer, camouflaging them so as not to attract the attention of rhinos or poachers. The goal is for the cameras to detect movement and send snapshots to park rangers, so that they can better monitor what goes on inside the park. Currently, the same group that developed the camera is working to spread its use across the globe, so as to prevent poaching or trapping of other endangered wildlife worldwide.

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