Online Britons urged to help deter poachers in South Africa

THE British public are being asked to help stop poachers by keeping watch on web livestreams from South African national parks.

Rangers in Balule Nature Reserve have fixed smartphones and cameras to poles and are live-streaming the footage on the internet in an effort to deter and catch poachers who target the reserve’s rhinos, impalas and warthogs.

Two Samsung phones and two cameras have been set up in known hotspots for wildlife including a river and a watering hole, with another two installed on the perimeter fence streaming footage to the rangers.

A fifth is attached to a camouflaged vehicle which can be moved to target areas the rangers believe to be at particular risk.

Viewers can watch the live footage on the Wildlife Watch website and report any suspicious activity to the rangers.

Craig Spencer, founder of the local Black Mamba anti-poaching ranger unit, said most of the cameras would not be hidden in the hope that the obvious surveillance would act as a deterrent. “We don’t want to catch poachers, we want to save wildlife. So if the cameras act as a deterrent to keep the poachers away, then I think we’ve actually achieved more than creating orphans and widows in the local community,” he said.

Leitah Mkhabela, supervisor of the Black Mambas, a group made up mostly of women, said they were also showing the footage to local people to educate them about the animals in the reserve.

“This is going to bring the community closer to the game reserve, and this will also change their mindset of thinking that the animal doesn’t deserve to live or we have to feed ourselves through the bush meat,” she said.

The handsets are charged using solar power and uses Wi-Fi set up by African, a tech company that brings internet to remote parts of the continent and also live-streams scenes from national parks. The scheme will be live until April 8.