An idea that uses SMS alerts [3] in the fight against the poachers is being contemplated by the Kenya [4] Wildlife Service. Rangers working in the country's wildlife parks would receive alerts on their mobiles [5] whenever a park boundary was breached, enabling them to target the area. Conservationists are hoping that the scheme, which would mean alarming the fences of all of the parks--some of which do not even have physical boundaries--would cut poaching by 90%.

There are worries that the scheme will be costly and unworkable, however. "Some parks are very big and the idea would only work in conservancies which have a much smaller land area," said Patrick Omondi, head of the species department at the KWS.

Technology is already [6] at the forefront of the fight against poaching--DNA testing [7] is one of the big ideas currently being contemplated to catch the bad guys--and Google is already helping the cause by funding a $5 million drone project [8] for the World Wildlife Fund. [9]

[Image from Flickr user yaaaay [10]]