Poachers across the world kill protected species everyday. They hunt elephants for their tusks, rhinos for their horns and tigers for pretty much anything including their eyes, hair, internal organs and genitals.
Google will help the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) monitor endangered species with cutting edge technologies including unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones. Google will provide the WWF with a five million dollar grant to track poachers who hunt protected species in Africa or Asia.
"These innovative new tools will give rangers in protected areas and local communities a welcome advantage against the ruthless and deadly gangs of criminals targeting wildlife," the WWF wrote on its website. "The grant enables WWF to test advanced but easily-replicable technologies and create an overarching system to curb poaching — an important complement to the work WWF, partners and governments are already undertaking."
In addition to the drones, which won't be armed, the grant will finance other projects, such as tagging animals, and sensors and monitoring software to help rangers keep track of them. WWF and Google hope these initiatives will help rangers monitor animals and deter poachers from killing endangered species.
To find out more about how Google will help WWF fight poachers, check out the video above.