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Innovation

Flying drones in action: to catch a poacher

The South African government plans to deploy pilotless drones to catch poachers within its national parks.
Written by Joe McKendrick, Contributing Writer

Earlier in the week, we discussed the commercialization of flying drones, and the ramifications on society.

There are many positive applications to deploying small, pilotless aircraft. For example, it has just been reported that the South African government is deploying drones to catch poachers within its national parks. According to a CNN post, the government "hopes to deploy unmanned drone helicopters developed by national defense firm Denel in the fight against poachers."

This year so far, 198 rhino were poached from South African parks. Last year, 89 were killed. Last month, SmartPlanet colleague described on-the-ground efforts to prevent poaching, including the implantation of GPS chips within the rhinos.

The pilotless drones would be employed to take pictures of the offenders, South African Defense Minister Lindiwe Sisulu is quoted as saying.

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com

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