Race to save rare California frog beats coronavirus lockdown

Protected species of animals and plants are illegally sold online mainly due to buyers and sellers having no knowledge of laws or the consequences to the ecosystem. Enforcement Gaps Interface (EGI) is a software which uses machine learning to determine if the animal product is illegal or not.

Traditionally, whales have been studied through research vessels, which are hard to maneuver, and costly to make. However, drones with the ability to capture a whale’s snot, are providing a much easier, and cheaper alternative to whale research.

The poaching of rhinos in South Africa has seen a rapid increase since 2007, jumping from 13 deaths then to 1,215 in 2014. After concluding that guns alone were not the solution, a patrol of local women from impoverished areas were brought together in the Balule reserve to focus on efforts in removing snares, stopping bushmeat kitchens, setting up roadblocks and implementing educational opportunities in poor communities and schools. Since their start, the area has seen a 76% reduction in snaring and poaching incidents.

Some South African ranchers who raise rhinos legally are advocating for a block-chain currency "Rhino Coin." They argue that secure stockpiles of rhino horn could generate much needed funding for wild populations. But the plan is fiercely opposed by many conservation groups, and its success depends on whether or not a global ban on trading horn ends.

At a decommissioned chemical depot, a lone biologist has been building artificial homes for burrowing owls. To date, he's installed some 182 burrows. Not only have his efforts helped bring a declining species back across the region, but his studies have gone a long way to better understanding the birds.

Local Ocean Conservation is in Watamu, Kenya has made approximately 21,000 turtle rescues and "treated more than 650 turtles in its rehabilitation center and clinic" since it's inception in 1997. The group responds to fishermen who have accidentally caught turtles in their nets and then remunerates the fishermen for their "time, effort, and phone calls." This incentive-based relationship combined with a ban on the international tortoiseshell trade has helped decrease the poaching of turles, and the group has now expanded their efforts to include more initiatives to protect the endangered species.

A unique partnership between the U.S. military, conservation groups, private landowners, and state and local governments has allowed the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker to grow in numbers. By working together, they’ve been able to protect the forests near military bases where these birds live. Environmentalists are worried about efforts to remove the birds from the endangered species list, saying their work isn’t over. However, this partnership has become a model for other conservation efforts throughout the United States.

The nonprofit group Save Giraffes Now, the Kenya Wildlife Service, the Northern Rangelands Trust, and local community members are working together to save the endangered Rothschild’s giraffe species. Rising lake levels and flooding have stranded the animals on its island, so they made a custom-built steel barge to relocate them to a protected wildlife reserve. It’s not easy to move giraffes, but so far they’ve successfully moved three out of nine of them.

A cheetah conservation project in South Africa has helped the cat population rebound over the years by securing them in wildlife reserves. The Cheetah Metapopulation Project started in 2011 when there were 217 cheetahs, but a decade later, there are now 419 across the reserves. While there is debate about whether the focus should be on the quantity of cheetahs or the quality of their enclosures, the project has been successful and they’re looking to share their cheetahs and conservation lessons with other countries.

More and more park rangers, judges, prosecutors, and wildlife investigators are working together to stop poaching in Kenya. Through training and a new app that allows all parties to track wild animals in a protected conservation area, the number of poaching cases has decreased from 449 creatures killed illegally in 2021 to 93 in 2018. The number of court cases have also decreased in recent years.