Spies Amongst Us
Hi there!!
This week, we’ll talk about how poachers may be lurking in social groups where animal sightings are being shared. The power of social media has greatly influenced the photographic community. Instagram, Facebook and Telegram are some of the sites where sightings of wildlife are being posted, sometimes with the location tagged in it. Citizen science projects such as eBird by Cornell University, allow its users to report sightings, post geotagged photos and audio on them. These sightings are made easily accessible to the public so that the data can be used for monitoring different species for research or conservation purposes. In the past, photographing wildlife (especially the rarer species) is very challenging for me. I have to go on many trips, surf the net and buy books to learn more about the animals before I could even find one. These days, it is relatively easy to find the target wildlife as there are quite a few social media sites that report real time sightings of the wildlife together with its location.
Is there an imposter among us?
This accessibility to information means that more photographers are aware of where the wildlife is, hence when sightings of rare wildlife are reported, there is a tendency for a large crowd to form (we will talk more about this in a later blog). Another pressing issue is that the ease of access to such information has made it easier for poachers to find their target species. Other than the media sites, poachers could also use the electronic tags placed on some animals to find the wildlife. In fact, the use of VHF (Very High Frequency) radio receivers in Canada’s Banff, Kootenay and Yoho National Parks was banned in 2016 after photographers used it to track and locate collared wildlife. In another case, the GPS data of tigers in India was accessed by hackers in 2013. Fortunately, the issue was quickly resolved by the authorities and no damage was done.
Efforts have been made to address the issue. For instance, the eBird platform is updated and can now hide the location of certain bird species from the public. Social media groups in Singapore have also added measure to reduce the chance of sensitive data being leaked to poachers. Admins on the Facebook Group, Bird Sightings, discourage the posting of active nests and will remove such post from the group. A telegram group that shares bird sightings in Singapore also checks the basic information of a person by going through their social media, before allowing the person to join the group.
What’s clear is that we must be careful about what information we share online. Some tips for photographers would be not to post their photos immediately, or not tag the location of the photos in their social media. Hope this helps raise awareness about how data online (personal ones too), can be misused by others.
Cheers!! =)
Hi Benjamin!
After reading this I can’t help but feel a little bit guilty for excitedly posting pictures of wildlife (including the location oops) without thinking twice about possible consequences. I do find it a little bit creepy because this kind of situation reminds me a lot of stalking :0. I can’t help but wonder (considering improvements in technology) whether a location of a picture can still be discovered without the user explicitly tagging the location, for example through closely examining the background of the image or through hacking the EXIF data of a picture. Do you think that in the future, as technology continues to improve, this issue will get worse?
Hi Christabel!! I’m not too sure how to answer this. On one hand, improvements in technology could mean that security is tighter and more updated. On the other hand, it could also mean that more data is available when we put something online. If I remember correctly, some cameras even come with their own GPS to tag the location in the picture. Like you mentioned, if the EXIF data of these pictures are hacked, all the information including the tagged location can seen by them. So in the end, I guess it will be a race between the security updates and how fast the hackers can improve on their hacking capabilities.
– Ben
Hi Benjamin!
thanks for such an insightful read! Reading this post made me wonder if our constant presence alters the behavioural pattens and health of wildlife. I was also reminded me of wildlife documentaries, and am curious on whether wildlife film ethics are sufficient to safeguard the populations and well-being of wildlife!
Cheers,
Kelly
Hi Kelly, thanks for visiting my blog 🙂
Whether our constant presence affects the health of the wildlife will ultimately depend on what we are doing while we are there. For instance, my previous blog post touched on baiting. If baiting is practiced extensively while being present at the location, then it could have an effect on the health of the wildlife. Whether it affects the behaviour, its quite difficult to say as some people may argue that biodiversity doesn’t have a behaviour.
On the topic of wildlife documentaries, it has also bothered me that some documentaries film rare and elusive wildlife with a clear view of the background. There could be a chance that a poacher living in or is familiar with the area, could recognise the location just by the background. I think this will be a topic that I could cover in my future blog, so stay tuned!!
– Ben
Hi Benjamin.
Thanks for this thought-provoking post.
Having used radio telemetry to study bats, some of this info really surprised me because when we order our transmitters, we choose very specific frequencies, which won’t overlap with frequencies used by other researchers in the same area and won’t contravene govt regulations.
I guess the part that confuses me is how a rabid photographer or poacher would know what frequency is being used for what species – I would think this could be quite a waste of time if you’re looking for, say, a grey wolf, but you follow the signal and find an elk. It makes me wonder about the possibility of hacking the systems of the transmitter manufacturers (because when we order, we must say what species they’re for). Or maybe there’s something I don’t understand about the transmitters we use – and that’s certainly possible.
The other thing I wonder is whether this issue plays any role in the problem of bird poaching in SG, e.g., for straw-headed bulbuls. Even if social media mediators try to keep a lid on things, you can’t stop someone from posting their sighting on any social media platform. It’s hard for me to envision an effective (but not too draconian) way to control this.
jc
Hi Dr. Coleman!!
Thanks for sharing how these transmitters are being used. You mentioned that you must say what species it is for before ordering the transmitter, is there a specific frequency used for only a particular species of animal? In that case, is there a possibility of the poachers or photographers finding out the frequency, maybe through inside information? For example, the person selling is providing the frequency range used for the transmitter? Not trying to accuse anyone, but just curious if this is possible as I’ve never bought a transmitter, so I don’t have much knowledge on it.
And yes, I completely agree that it is difficult to control what information others share online. Although the increase in the number of photographers in these social media groups may mean that more information is shared, having more photographers may be a way of deterring poachers? If a sighting of a rare animal is reported, it will usually be followed by a group of photographers till the sighting of the animal is gone. Although the location is made known, having the constant presence of the photographer will probably deter any potential poachers. Especially since the chance of them being photographed is very high too.
– Ben 🙂
Hi Benjamin,
Good reply & Q.
Here’s the manufacturer website (one of the largest manufacturers in the world).
https://www.holohil.com/transmitters/
If you navigate there, you can see the order form and instructions yourself.
Not trying to be evasive and duck your Q, but the truth is I don’t really know what happens after you order your transmitters and provide the details Holohil asks for. Just, when you receive them, they can all have the same frequency range, but each with a slightly different frequency, so you can choose the correct channel for each individual you track (the receipt tells you what exact frequency each transmitter operates at).
I don’t really see how it would be possible to decide that all members of a given species get the same frequency because let’s say I’m tracking crested goshawks in SG and a colleague is doing it in KL. If species dictates the frequency, then I could overlap with other locals using radio signals for various purposes, and those might differ between locations.
The choice of frequency also depends on your receiver, which is the most $$ piece of equipment (compared to transmitters & antenna). So, Holohil asks you to provide your requirements.
That’s why I’m mystified as to how anyone with nefarious intentions could figure out how to find a radio-tagged animal. And I’m so glad you raised this issue because going fwd, I’ll bear it in mind when ordering transmitters, esp. for threatened / poached species.
Hi Benjamin!
What a great post! I had never even considered the idea of poachers piggy-backing on animal-sighting reports/posts on social media. I guess we really got to watch out for any users acting really ‘sus’ !
Cheers! Joseph.