Crowd-Funded Drones Could Help Protect Kenyan Rhinos

What if there were only a couple dozen police officers to patrol all of Manhattan? Now imagine that the borough protected something far more valuable than gold, something that heavily armed criminals were willing to kill to get. How could those few officers keep the peace over such a large territory?That's roughly the equivalent of what it's like these days at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in central Kenya. The 36,400-hectare nonprofit wildlife reserve is home to endangered black and white rhinos, elephants, lions, chimpanzees and Grevy's zebras, as well as four of the world's last seven northern white rhinos ( Ceratotherium simum cottoni ). But despite its size, Ol Pejeta only has 160 guards to patrol the entire area, which is about 75 percent of the size of New York City. The rhinos, especially, are at risk from poachers who see vast fortunes in the animals' horns. According to the conservancy, a single horn could bring a poacher the equivalent of 30 years' pay in country where the average income is just $1 a day. (For background, read "Rhino Poaching: An Extinction Crisis." ) [More]