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Hunters using tag data to track endangered animals
Sharks tagged during a conservation programme were found and then killed by people who had managed to access their tagging data.
Hunters are using data derived from electronic tags to track and kill endangered species, new research has found.
Writing in the journal Conservation Biology, scientists recount examples of how tags have been used to help poachers. They also reveal the damage created by members of the public, who have acquired tracking equipment for non-research purposes.
The team is now calling on electronic tagging manufacturers, researchers and stakeholders to have a discussion about their responsibility.
'Failure to adopt more proactive thinking about the unintended consequences of electronic tagging could lead to a malicious exploitation and disturbance of the very organism researchers hope to understand and conserve,' they write.
Electronic data tagging gives researchers incredible insights into the behaviour of wild animals. Central to conservation and resource management, tagging has revealed the movements, habitats and the mortality rates of even the most enigmatic creatures.
In the paper, scientists describe how attempts were made in India to hack GPS collar information from endangered Bengali tigers in a case of “cyber poaching”. They also discuss how sharks tagged during a conservation programme were found and then killed by people who had managed to access their tagging data.
‘Also troubling is that members of the public have acquired tracking equipment for non-research purposes, such as photography or wildlife viewing,’ the authors write. ‘The frequent exposure of animals to people can habituate them to human interaction, which at minimum alters the animal’s natural behaviour, the negatively influencing research findings.’
The paper makes several suggestions for the continued use of electronic tagging, including a data-sharing policy that sets out who has access to what type of data and how they can use it.
‘The onus is on researchers to take a leadership role in this effort to illuminate the tenebrous frontier of animal tracking and to engage with other partners in a proactive manner,’ the researchers conclude.
