PoacherCams

Panthera's camera innovation effort has been ongoing, with seven design iterations and over 25,000 cameras built and supplied to field researchers. We have used PoacherCams since 2014, when we began to station them in and around protected sites in Asia and Africa. In 2016, our PoacherCam was a finalist in Vodafone Americas Foundation’s annual Wireless Innovation Project, a competition for wireless-related technologies that aim to solve some of the world’s most critical issues. In April 2020, PoacherCam was selected by Fast Company’s 2020 World Changing Ideas Awards as an honorable mention in the AI and Data category.

With automatic weapons, snares and poison, poachers are decimating wildlife populations. They target big cats for their skins, claws, teeth and other body parts, which are sold on the illegal wildlife market. But we're fighting back. Panthera is on the front lines of the fight against poaching, and our revolutionary PoacherCam is at the heart of these crucial law enforcement efforts.

Starting in 2008, we produced wildlife monitoring devices called PantheraCams, which have evolved into the groundbreaking PoacherCam, a motion-triggered camera that can immediately distinguish between humans and wildlife — the world's first camera to do so. Additionally, the PoacherCam feeds image data directly to SMART.

With an invisible infrared flash, the PoacherCam covertly captures human activities and sends images and locations to law enforcement officials in real-time via wireless networks. This trailblazing technology enables law enforcement officials and site security experts to identify, capture and prosecute poachers, saving the lives of big cats around the world.

Panthera is continuing to improve the functionality and lower the production costs of this technology so that we can expand its use and prevent more poachers from hunting wild cats and other wildlife.

“Panthera’s latest PoacherCam is a game-changer. It strikes the right balance between employing cutting- edge technology whilst still remaining affordable and practical in design. When combined with proper site system implementation and ranger response training, it helps tip the balance in favour of those fighting to protect the world’s endangered cats.” 

Mark Booton

Counter Wildlife Crime Research & Analytics Lead