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PROJECTS - Support Equipment for Antipoaching Aircraft

Wilderness Conservancy furnished the following equipment to enhance the effectiveness of its antipoaching aircraft operations:

Fifteen Hand Held Global Positioning System (GPS) Units: Each aircraft is equipped with GPS which allows the pilot, at the touch of a button, to get his exact longitude and latitude. He then calls his position in to operations who must then grid it out on a map and try and describe the location to the ground team via radio. That takes a great deal of time and by the time the ground team arrives the poachers are often gone. The ground teams now have one GPS each which enables them to input the exact location of the poachers and go directly to them without costly delay.

Five Hand Held Radios: Hand held radios permit two way communication between ground teams and the pilot. Thus, in conjunction with the hand held GPS units described above, the pilot will be able to inform the ground teams of the exact location of the poachers or other subjects which, in turn, will result in a vastly more efficient response. The reverse is also true in that when ground teams find the spoor of poachers communication can be made with the pilot who can then fly directly to the GPS location.

Fifteen Ruger Mini-K 14 .223 semi-automatic rifles: Following a donation by Sturm, Ruger Company of fifteen Ruger Mini-K 14 .223 rifles plus thirty round magazines, the rifles were provided to the KwaZulu-Natal NCS and Shamwari Game Reserve. These rifles augment the shotguns and other weapons that the game scouts use. They provide a level of protection for the game scouts even though they do not have quite the firepower as AK-47 assault rifles often used by poachers.