"The pioneering pilotless aircraft have been developed by the global wildlife organisation, WWF. They have had some initial use in Indonesia and talks are underway to introduce them elsewhere, including in Tanzania and Malaysia. Developers say they are cheap to buy and run and could help conservationists across the developing world. In Nepal, endangered species, including rhinos and tigers, are suffering from the combined effects of poaching and habitat destruction. The drones can address both.Poachers often slaughter the animals inside Nepal's national parks.
"We hope these drones will be useful in detecting poachers as they enter the parks," Dr Serge Wich, a biologist with the Anthropological Institute at the University of Zurich and one of the innovators behind the project, told the BBC. "If they see poachers in the area, they can send out a team to catch them."
The small-scale, remote-controlled drones are still being refined. They are light enough to be launched by hand and fly a pre-programmed route of up to 20km (12.5 miles), filming the ground below with a stills or video camera."
Whilst on the face of it this may seem like a sensible idea, the reality is that without capitalism, the cause of poaching would not exist. Like so many other ills of this world, men kill animals not because they are hungry or need to, or even enjoy it, but because it pays them to.
 |
| Profit driven cruelty. |
Profit drives the slaughter of endangered species, just as it drives the destruction of habitat. Flying smart-arse planes in attempts to catch or stop the killing will not remove the root cause and therefore not solve this issue. Just as humanity's survival depends on us learning to respect ourselves and our future by putting people and needs in place of profits, so does the survival of all other living creatures and even of the Earth itself .
SussexSocialist
No comments:
Post a Comment