At last, the upside of using drones...

[undeterred]

Tanzania: U.S. Offers Drones to Combat Poaching

THE government through its mission in Washington DC, in the United States has received proposals from conservationists who are ready to protect and save wildlife from poaching using unmanned aircrafts better known as drones. The Tanzanian Ambassador to the United States, Ms Liberata Mulamula, told the 'Daily News on Saturday' in an exclusive interview that these proposals are in reaction to President Barack Obama's speech when he visited Tanzania in July, this year.

"I have held talks with drone experts and they have helped clear the negative perception I had about them. I have received the proposals and the talks are ongoing," she said. On his visit to Tanzania in July, President Obama discussed the possibility of using unarmed, unmanned aircraft to help overstretched park rangers combat the growing problem of elephant poaching in the country's vast wildlife reserves and national parks.

Amb. Mulamula said that the speech by President Obama had generated a lot of interest among American conservationists and that they are ready to continue the global campaign against wildlife poaching. The White House announced that up to 10 million US Dollars in new financial support has been set aside to help tackle poaching for ivory and rhino horn. This funding includes approximately three million US Dollars in bilateral assistance to South Africa, three million US Dollars in bilateral assistance to Kenya and four million US Dollars in regional assistance throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

According to a report in the Global Travel Industry News, a global organisation, Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE), an estimated 17,000 elephants were illegally killed in 2011 - a figure likely to be over 25,000 in the continent. For many of the range states in Central and Western Africa, the extent of the killings now far exceeds the natural population growth rates, forcing their elephants into widespread decline and putting them at risk of extinction in those countries.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201309090380.html

[longship]

1. Also finding new fire outbreaks in the National Parks.

Drones are just a technology, neither good nor bad. One can use them for either.

Condemn the bad uses. But don't condemn the tech just because it has been used for bad. There are also beneficial uses.