Human-wildlife conflict is a shockingly common problem, often with enormous consequences for both individual animals and entire populations.
When human-wildlife conflict comes to mind, you may immediately think of wildlife crime instead - which isn't wrong, since many regions with wildlife crime problems like poaching are also areas where people may frequently deal with human-wildlife conflict, causing the two issues to go hand-in-hand. But human-wildlife conflict is a much broader issue encompassing many ways that human presence and interference can cause problems for us and animals alike. Human-wildlife conflict includes:
- Elephants trampling a farmer's crops, resulting in retaliation
- New real estate developments infringing on ecosystems where predator species live, leading to predators having less territory and less food, which in turn leads to predators attacking domestic animals and livestock
- Freeways dividing the territory of animals like mountain lions, leading to wildlife venturing into neighborhoods or being killed by cars
- Lead bullets used in hunting causing scavengers like condors to die of lead poisoning
These are just a few examples of how humans can negatively impact wildlife, and it's clear to see how many of these scenarios could escalate. Human-wildlife conflict solutions don't just include ways in which we can prevent these issues (for example, through tracking predators, monitoring populations' territories, or building barriers and wildlife crossings monitored by sensors), but also the ways in which we can help people connect with wildlife and care about learning to live alongside them.
If you're interested in solutions that can prevent human-wildlife conflict, join this group and get to know the people who are working to protect and save species around the world!
Header image: Casey Allen on Unsplash
- @Rob_Appleby
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Wild Spy
Whilst I love everything about WILDLABS and the conservation tech community I am mostly here for the badges!!
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Schäuffelhut Berger GmbH
data scientist/algorithmic dev - caught fire for movement ecology
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An Environmental sciences and Management graduate from SUA, passionate and eager to drive change to the Environment, making World a better place for present and future generations.
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Zoological Society London (ZSL)
Technical Project Manager in ZSL's Conservation Technology Unit
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I am a Senior researcher and PI in Conservation and Animal Ecology at Fondazione Edmund Mach, Trento, Italy. I am coordinator of EUROMAMMALS, member of the advisory board of the Global Initiative on Ungulate Migration at CMS, and President of the International Bio-Logging Society
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Spanish veterinarian interesting wildlife conservation
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I am biologist, I have studied wild life and ethnobiology at Amazon and caimans in Brazil
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Conservation Writer, Storyteller, & Digital Strategist
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The Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP) is a training and capacity building programme that targets individuals from developing countries who are early in their conservation career and demonstrate leadership...
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Technology by itself will not save pangolins or elephants, but it can help make major progress.
14 November 2016
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The internet has a long love affair with cat pictures, but these aren’t your mom’s internet cats. Now internet cats are getting even bigger and wilder. In this article, Dr. Lisa Feldkamp talks about the work Panthera is...
26 October 2016
Holohil Systems is now accepting applications for grants to support the purchase of wildlife tracking equipment of up to CDN $2,000 from the Holohil's own product line. Applications are welcome from any geographical...
20 July 2016
Sharing personal 'best of' animal pictures is a favorite pastime of many camera trappers. A prolific camera trapper himself, Roland Kays has pulled together more than 600 images collected by 152 researchers from 54...
18 July 2016
Article
Drones are being explored for a spectrum of applications in conservation that include mapping, biodiversity inventories, antipoaching patrols, wildlife tracking and fire monitoring. However, questions remain about...
8 July 2016
More than half of all primate species are endangered, including our closest living relative, the chimpanzee. Could Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) be applied to primates as well as it has been for other taxa? In this...
29 June 2016
Operating the largest tropical forest camera trap network globally, TEAM Network has accumulated over 2.6 million images. How can large datasets coupled with new techniques for data management and analysis provide...
28 April 2016
Margaret Driciru, Senior Warden & Wildlife Veterinarian with the Uganda Wildlife Authority, showcases how mobile reporting technology is being used in the field to monitor, collect data, and send rapid alerts when...
22 December 2015
Katherine Chou, Product Lead at Google[x] Labs, sees technology as a way to make the impossible, possible. She explores differences in how wildlife NGOs and the tech sector think and plan, and what the conservation ...
22 December 2015
Gary Atkinson, Director of Emerging Technologies at ARM, explains why we should be interested in the Internet of Things. Could it be a game changer for conservation?
10 December 2015
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Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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Hi David - have you seen this opportunity? It may be a good one to apply to for support (the Darwin Initiative). |
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AI for Conservation, Drones, Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Wildlife Crime | 2 hours 10 minutes ago | |
Hey @FleuryGS :)Bright Frog Game Studios is producing some really cool environmental education video games that more people should know about! I've gone ahead and added it as an... |
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Human-Wildlife Conflict | 2 weeks 6 days ago | |
Thank you Robyn. Sure I will send more information to your email |
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Citizen Science, Acoustics, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Human-Wildlife Conflict | 1 month 1 week ago | |
Totally agree.Inititally sceptical until I saw Helena and Graeme were involved.MJ |
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Acoustics, Citizen Science, Community Base, Human-Wildlife Conflict | 1 month 2 weeks ago | |
Hi @Henrikcox I hope you are well. I am not sure if you may remember myself and my colleague from CLS. We had a meeting and met in-person at Earthranger last year. ... |
+15
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Human-Wildlife Conflict, Sensors | 2 months 1 week ago | |
Great to know Lars! Let's stay in touch on this, would love to join the testing out there.Cheers,Henrik |
+68
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Human-Wildlife Conflict | 2 months 1 week ago | |
This thread is off-topic in this conversation, so happy to continue it in the other one. However, just noting - your system is one example, but not the only one - there are... |
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Human-Wildlife Conflict, Data management and processing tools | 2 months 1 week ago | |
Hello community, I wanted to share some exciting updates about my ongoing conservation project for endangered species. I post this here... |
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Human-Wildlife Conflict, Early Career | 2 months 3 weeks ago | |
Hi Rokshana,Maybe you can try this product from India called ANIDERS - I think this product would help you a lot. This is their website - |
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Human-Wildlife Conflict, East Africa Community | 2 months 3 weeks ago | |
Perfect thanks! I am still a novice using Python but my wife can help me! |
+6
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Human-Wildlife Conflict | 3 months 2 weeks ago | |
@PaulAllin Thanks for your valuable insights. Zenmuse H20N seems to be very powerful and useful in this case. However, I'm looking for a more affordable option for a self-funded... |
+5
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Drones, Human-Wildlife Conflict | 3 months 2 weeks ago | |
Hi Amit,The most important thing is that the livestock owners contact you as soon as possible after finding the carcass. We commonly do two things if they contact us on the same... |
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Camera Traps, AI for Conservation, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Early Career, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Protected Area Management Tools | 4 months ago |
Help - Innovative ways to track elephant movement
28 October 2022 4:50pm
7 November 2022 12:52am
Hi Tyler,
Would like to introduce you to Ceres Tags products
- Ceres Tags products come in boxes of 5, 10 and 24.
- There are some software partners such as Earthranger, Mapipedia and possibly CiboLabs that would be able to assist you with your mapping vegetation requirements
- Ceres Tag does not require any towers, base stations and infrastructure. This allows you to see any movements from the heard outside of their normal herd (boundary alerts), and you will not be disturbing any of the flora and fauna with infrastructure set up.
- For the timing you are looking at, Ceres Wild pings directly to satellite 24 times a day. For Ceres Trace and Ceres Ranch there are 4 within 24 hours. Taking into consideration, when you set up alert areas, you will get them directly to your phone/laptop via your software of choice
- Ceres Ranch is a reusable tag that has just been launched. Use it on this project, remove the tag and then use the tag on your next project
- The software you choose will assist with the history of your animal movements. Ceres Tag is integrated with 11 software partners and in-development with 18 software partners https://cerestag.com/pages/software-partners
- Understanding it is a short-term project, you would be able to use Ceres Tags products without the additional expense of setting up and removing infrastructure- towers, gateways
- With Ceres Tag, you are purchasing the box of tags and picking a suitable software to deliver the information you require. On average, a box of 10 Ceres Trace Tags, is the same as 1 LoRaWAN tower.
14 December 2022 10:49am
I just came across this interesting paper in which seismic monotoring of animals like elephants was mentioned.
This is the study refered to:
Cheers,
Lars
New: Satellites for Biodiversity Award
5 December 2022 2:08pm
Shark Lab Data Analyst
24 October 2022 7:12pm
Senior Conservation Technology Expert Position (Consultancy) with the Global Wildlife Program
22 September 2022 5:35pm
Mara Predators Hackathon
30 August 2022 1:28pm
Online Hackathon: Predators conservation in the Maasai Mara
22 August 2022 10:32am
Ceres Wild Rhino application
22 August 2022 1:29am
29 September 2022 4:05am
Human-wildlife conflict one of the greatest threats to wildlife species - WWF and UNEP report
29 July 2022 1:27pm
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International Workshop on Animal Movement Ecology & Human Mobility
22 July 2022 7:25pm
30 August 2022 6:24pm
CERES TAG
22 July 2022 3:36am
Hello there
1 July 2022 5:00pm
Temporarily marking of polar bears entering villages
27 November 2019 1:49pm
3 June 2022 2:49pm
Hi Femke, did you get any responses to this question? If so I would be interested in hearing what came up.
Long ago I was trapping small mammals and we would use picric acid (fluorescent yellow) to dye the hair on the bellies of mice and voles. It is a bit explosive esp if it drys out but we never had any issues of that sort. Maybe there is a safe and stable form that could be deployed via paint gun - I seem to recall that the Polar Bear Alert Team in Churchill Manitoba tested paintballs on polar bears but not sure of the results.
Stephen
17 June 2022 8:09pm
Hi @Femke_Hilderink , long time no speak!
What an interesting problem/project!
Does it have to be paint, as there was this project a while back:
I don't know how it's going, but am really interested to hear anything...
If something like paint is preferable, maybe drones delivering it could work? I am super interested in using drones to drop tracking tags onto animals, and polar bears are big enough targets to give this a rip snorting go! Happy to discuss.
I had a colleague that used food dye to temporarily colour Australian ibis at refuse sites. If memory serves they trialled sprinklers and super soakers for delivery with some success. I can try and dig up more information if you like?
Or could their foot pads be painted, as maybe they could 'pick up the paint' by walking over an area with paint on the ground? That way their coats are left relatively untouched...
Looking forward to hearing other ideas!
Cheers,
Rob
International Platform to exchange knowledge and experiences about solutions/initiatives on Human-Wildlife conflict issues
31 January 2022 11:31am
31 January 2022 11:32am
Why this collaboration platform? What entails to become ENCOSH member?
Tackling human-wildlife coexistence issues requires an holistic approach with various initiatives/measures/strategies. Many of these have been tested in various places over the world by various stakeholders. But there is a lack of sharing these initiatives across the world. Besides, many could be adapted in various context and for different animal species. It is like a big puzzle with all pieces out there but spread out.
This is why this collaborative platform was created to gather all extant initiatives/measures/strategies and multi-stakeholders involved in these "solutions" to share their knowledge and experiences so that everyone can learn from each other and better tackling such issues locally.
Any user who registers on the platform becomes members, the only engagement is to accept the privacy policy and terms & conditions. Members can have access to all the platform features. They can also share their own initiatives/measures (not a whole project) if they want to contribute. This will create technical sheets that our team will first review before sharing on the platform and will be then available to all and downloadable in many languages for use in different countries and on the field.
Tech, Evidence and Financial Compensation for livestock losses due to predators
13 November 2020 4:03pm
20 November 2020 7:47pm
Chavoux....
BRILLIANT!
Regarding collaring, I am developing collars for livestock, not for Jaguars. BCB detects Jaguars using Smart Cameras (smart fences are on the plans as well) and that information is inside livestock collars, so you can get early alerts if domestic animals are in dangerous zones (people here release their animals for feeding, etc). If no Smart cameras are present, you can tag the areas manually if you have the evidence from camera trapping or inhabitants (I developed simple panic buttons as a way to engage local inhabitants). I was about to test all this however the pandemic imposed trip restrictions since the early days of March!
That's regarding tech. Your views on the human side are really interesting, I will talk about this soon with Conicet Researchers, I guess more synchronization with NGOs are needed, there are a lot of political things in the middle however, this sounds quite good to me: "predator friendly meat" brand, if you want, please drop me an email at [email protected] so I can get yours or subscribe to the BCB's site (The site is to try to encourage other people to use tech and talk about the Jaguar situation here, it is not for fundraising)
There are some simple things that can be done to make a huge difference, tech is only an enabler in my opinion. I collected a few tips also here (not mine, I'm a tech guy but I liked the drawings, they were made with love for Jaguars!)
www.wildedge.info/jaguarcampaigni
Warm regards Chavoux! I hope other people will read your words as well!
10 November 2021 2:02pm
Hello Carlos and Chavoux,
Interesting exchange, thank you! Working on HWC, boh locally on Human-Jaguar coexistence in French Guyana and globally through the ENCOSH platform, it would great to learn more from your initiatives and experiences!
An opportunity to do so is to join us and contribute to the ENCOSH platform: https://encosh.org/en/
It is a recent international collaborative platform to promote the exchange of knowledge, experiences and ideas among all stakeholders worldwide to better tackling Human-Wildlife coexistence issues. A forum will be very soon included also.
Your contribution would be meaningful by submitting some of your initiatives to this community. Besides, you could find and make comments on a list of almost 100 extant initiatives used to enhance Human-Wildlife interactions worldwide.
I remain available if you need further information or guidance.
All the best
Tommy Gaillard
3 December 2021 5:12pm
This is an awesome thread and very enlightening. Thank you! I started reading this as Oregon recently had an entire pack of wolves poisoned, and I wanted to understand the viewpoints that go into these conversations. Thank you!
Technical Difficulties: The Death of Giants
3 November 2021 12:00am
EarthRanger Announces Inaugural Conservation Tech Award Recipients
3 November 2021 12:00am
Technical Difficulties: A Deployment Checklist
13 October 2021 12:00am
Incubating grassroots innovations (tech/non-tech) to mitigate conflict
16 August 2021 8:55am
Tech4Wildlife Leaders: Understanding Endangered Primate Populations
2 June 2021 12:00am
Tech4Wildlife Leaders: Resolving Human-Giraffe Conflict
21 May 2021 12:00am
Margo Gadfly: A Versatile Wildlife Deterrent
31 March 2021 12:00am
Warn elephants using infrasound?
25 April 2018 1:30pm
17 March 2021 11:22am
Good day Lily.
I stumbled upon this post of yours.
Have you been able to make any advancement on this topic, or get any feedback from anyone?
I have been asked a similar question by a group, looking at early warning systems for large mammals, like elephants, of possible danger situations.
On my side, it is still a very new project, however, my use case has more to do with the trains that kills the elephants, but we also have a use case for early warning systems to recognize poachers and early warning systems to intercept any possible threat.
So if you are in a position, and willing to share any information, I would like to find out more, if there has been any developments regarding this topic aon your side.
Kind regards
Mischa
26 March 2021 4:23pm
Hi,
Generating infrasound is generally energy intensive and expensive. You can google "infra-subwoofer" and despair at the prices! But those are for audiophiles. I came across a fan type speaker design a long time ago that I think can be adapted, Another possibility is to use pyrotechnics to generate infrasound, but that would not be reusable and I suspect development will be even more of a headache. An intriguing possibility is to use basically a fogger - - those noisy smoky fumigators -- but built to produce the lower frequency.
26 March 2021 4:25pm
You should check out Smart Parks (https://www.smartparks.org/) and Hack the Poacher (https://www.hackthepoacher.com/).
Also -
Fazil, M., & Firdhous, M. (2018, December). IoT-enabled smart elephant detection system for combating human elephant conflict. In 2018 3rd International Conference on Information Technology Research (ICITR) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
Shaffer, L. J., Khadka, K. K., Van Den Hoek, J., & Naithani, K. J. (2019). Human-elephant conflict: A review of current management strategies and future directions. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 6, 235.
That last paper is a nice overview of different methods, and they have a section on acoustic strategies.
Webinar: 'Advances in use of SMART approach, tools and technology'
12 March 2021 12:00am
How do I strategically allocate drones for conservation?
8 February 2021 12:00am
Predator Deterrent - Human Effigy Based
3 October 2020 2:15am
Audio play back device when elephant crop raids
7 November 2019 7:55am
23 September 2020 7:27am
I've worked on a similar project to try to scare lions away from bomas in Kenya that's pretty much a bunch of stuff from Adafruit rigged together with cheap marine speakers in an overly complicated custom case (picture is of previous generation, new generation in development). We also run LEDs to show various light displays. I imagine you could imitate a muzzle flash to deepen the illusion of gunfire. I'm also happy to discuss things (although I don't think I can match the technical expertise of Freaklabs).
27 September 2020 1:57am
Suraci et al. have published a few papers about the use of an automated behavioral response system for sound playback when triggered by a camera trap. Their methods (see supplementary materials) are entirely open source and I even commissioned an engineer to make a few for me. The only issue is that the MP3 players need a separate battery pack to keep them charged or need to be charged weekly, as the sound runs continuosly since there would otherwise be a delay between the camera trigger and the MP3 player being turned on. This could probably be fiddled with to suit your needs, if the previous options don't work out.
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/2041-210X.12711
27 September 2020 3:31am
We actually designed Boombox, the audio player shown above, based on the ABRS system by the Suraci paper and with Dr. Meredith Palmer. We made some optimizations on it since the paper advocates an approach to infer when the camera was triggered. We reverse engineered our camera traps and took the actual trigger signal from the trailcam PIR motion sensor. Later, we were contacted by one of the authors of the paper and he mentioned they had come to the same conclusion.
We built the MP3 playback system using a discrete MP3 decoder IC which allowed us more control over playback, power management, and we could pick out the output amplifier to drive the speakers. We knew we would need to put the system to sleep and immediately play sounds on wakeup which most players aren't suited to do.
We also made it so that it's solar rechargeable with lithium-ion batteries so that it could last in the field as long as possible. Unfortunately we couldn't use that feature because there's no point in outlasting the trailcams. But for this application, it seems we might be able to use the solar recharging functionality.
We've volunteered for a possible TechTutors season 2 workshop on open source MP3 playback and recording with Arduino. We're waiting to discuss it with Steph and Ellie. If this sounds interesting, please let us know.
Challenge: ElephantEdge
11 August 2020 12:00am
Grassroots Innovations for Wildlife Conservation
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Get To Know FIT
6 May 2020 12:00am
Era of the Condor: A Species' Future in Recovery
5 May 2020 12:00am
4 November 2022 5:24pm
Why would you want to avoid alerting the rangers ?
You don't need high tech for this; elephants leave very obvious tracks and sign.