Hi Matt,

I would definitely be interested in joining this group.

One thing I often find is that we spend a lot of time discussing technologies and ecological outcomes, but much less time discussing the social and institutional processes that ultimately shape whether those technologies succeed or fail.

I think a Human Dimensions group could be a great space to connect people working on governance, policy, stakeholder engagement, values, and other topics that are often spread across different communities.

Looking forward to seeing how this develops!

yes, this group is definitely needed!

I would be interested

That's a great idea @MandyEyrich ! Similar to your idea, I wrote up an article with geospatial highlights from ICTC 2026: https://wildlabs.net/en/article/wildlabs-geospatial-group-ictc-2026. 

Is the Human-Wildlife Coexistence article available yet? Would love to read it and share it with colleagues at Fauna & Flora.

I'm applying to that UF forensics masters program...

Congratulations on completing the masters and going into the PhD program. We hear a lot about wildlife crime out here in Asia. You may want to connect with ZSL Thailand who are working in the illegal wildlife trade and the smuggling of animals/parts through Thailand and the Myanmar border. 

Good luck!

Akiba

I am interested in expanding our capability and understanding of snare detection by canines. We have two canines working in Asia that have successfully detected snares in training scenarios. However, final protocols for training and deployment are being developed and integrated into the team's capability. 

A potential enhancement is to add technology that supports the canine's detection capability.  

Hi team, can you please provide an update on where this effort sits now? There is a similar discussion on AI FOR CONSERVATION: Mass Detection of Wildlife Snares Using Airborne Synthetic Radar 

I want to add this as one of our competitions at the Global Conservation Tech & Drone Forum www.GCTDF.org in Kenya in early March, and include it in the new SCB Drones and Data WG as a discussion: https://wildlabs.net/discussion/scb-drones-and-data-working-group-society-conservation-biology 
 

This would build on the recent launch of a hands-on Tech Innovation Challenge around of the ADS-B proximity alert ,  as a safety layer in real conservation field operations where pilots are often multitasking. Please let me know the current status, data availability, key contacts, and what next steps might look like if this is to be integrated into the Forum and the Working Group agenda.

Thanks.

[email protected] 

Hats off to your team for this absolute game-changing technology! 

We rescue stray and wild animals in Taiwan, and the bulk of our work is saving animals maimed by wire snares and gin traps. We've become better at finding the devices, but still not good at all. There's simply too much difficult terrain to cover and we only have eyeballs and hiking sticks to find them. We know roughly where they are because the maimed stray dogs will eventually find their way onto a road and be reported to us. Then we close one of them, set up a trail camera, get the evidence of the poacher in the act of re-setting it, and get him prosecuted and shut down. But we need to be able to scale this greatly.

I've been using a thermal-imaging drone to locate stricken animals and am now considering buying another drone more suited to finding traps and snares. Some newer drones are able to navigate through forest without crashing into thin branches, so I've been looking into equipping one with LiDAR to see if that can detect the devices. But then I came across your YouTube channel and then this post about using airborne synthetic radar, and I'm incredibly excited to see where you might take this incredible technology.

How can we get our hands on the SAR you're using? It's 3 kg, right? I'm wondering if I could fit it to a suitable drone. If it works above forest canopy to detect traps and snares on the forest floor, then I can use a load-carrying drone instead of a light obstacle-avoidance drone.

If you made the SAR yourselves, then maybe think about crowdfunding for your project. I'd happily pledge funds if it meant I could get my hands on the kind of equipment you're using.

I can't tell you how happy I am thinking about all the animals' lives you'll save with this. Don't just remove the snares—gather evidence and put the poachers out of business too!

Hi @DaveGaynor and team. I am really keen to pursue this with some practical testing in Kenyan conservancies. What is the status of this effort, and could we meet to discuss how to take it forward as part of the Global Conservation Tech and Drone Forum in Nairobi, 2-6 March. I am chair of the Society for Conservation Biology Drone and Data Working Group and would like to discuss this at our inaugural meeting on 20th January.  https://wildlabs.net/discussion/scb-drones-and-data-working-group-society-conservation-biology 

Hi team, Can you please provide an update on where this effort sits now? The original post from January 2024 described three trials of airborne synthetic aperture radar for detecting snares and gin traps with foliage-penetrating radar scanning at 120 m AGL and generating geolocated alerts back into EarthRanger with identity and confidence metrics.

I want to add this as one of our competitions at the Global Conservation Tech & Drone Forum www.GCTDF.org in Kenya in early March, and include it in the new SCB Drones and Data WG as a discussion: https://wildlabs.net/discussion/scb-drones-and-data-working-group-society-conservation-biology 
 

This would build on the recent launch of a hands-on Tech Innovation Challenge around of the ADS-B proximity alert ,  as a safety layer in real conservation field operations where pilots are often multitasking. Please let me know the current status, data availability, key contacts, and what next steps might look like if this is to be integrated into the Forum and the Working Group agenda.

Thanks.

[email protected] 

hi chad, its great to hear from you_its really a great idea and impactful journey  in our community

having experience in community-led conservation initiatives, working and leading in community based conservation @nature_embassy  as the leader (found on insta and other social pages), 

i will be glad to be part of the group, thankyou

Hello Martina, I just messaged you! Hope to speak soon! :)