A massive fight is occurring that aims to help save the lives of millions of animals. Every day a range of animals are removed from the wild and sold illegally as part of the illegal wildlife trade. Currently this is the second biggest threat to species survival in the wild. Taronga Zoo is looking to help with their new wildlife witness app though.
100,000 sea creatures are also at risk due to oil spills. Luckily one Australian non-profit has invented a new oil removal wand to make helping these animals easier.
Both of these ideas are up for Google Impact Challenge grants to the tune of $500,000 that would allow them to help save the lives of these animals. Read on to find out how you can help them achieve this goal.
Taronga Conservation Society Australia-Wildlife Witness
Wildlife trafficking is in the same leagues as other illegal trades including drugs, human trafficking and counterfeited goods. Wildlife trafficking is big business and a very serious crime.
Each year many travellers see wildlife that is being illegally traded while holidaying overseas. Up until now they were powerless to stop it. Recently Taronga Conservation Society Australia released the app Wildlife Witness. This app allows people to immediately report wildlife trafficking in a safe manner. The app generates a report which is sent to TRAFFIC the global wildlife trade monitoring network. They then work with the local authority of where the report came from to stop the wildlife trafficking.
Though Wildlife Witness has the power to stop wildlife trafficking forever it is not currently reaching its full potential. This is because as a non-profit Taronga cannot afford to completely roll out this technology.
Luckily people can now help by simply clicking a button. Wildlife Witness has been nominated to receive $500,000 in the Google Impact challenge. This money will allow them to reach 2 million travellers and allow them to fight for wildlife. All it takes it going to the Google Impact challenge site and casting your vote for wildlife witness.
Wildlife witness needs to receive 500,000 votes before October 13 so they can win.
The penguin foundation’s ‘oil spill wand’
Wildlife Witness is not the only great initiative you can help though. The Penguin foundation based at Phillip Island has been nominated for their ‘oil spill wand.’
This technology works by applying a magnetic powder to the penguins which then bonds with the oil. By running the magnetic wand over the penguin the oil and metal are removed within 15 minutes. This is a big improvement over the current process of using soap, warm water and lots of time. The current process requires the penguins to be captured taken to a place with warm water and then they are vigorously scrubbed.
The Penguin Foundations, Dr Peter Dan said, “Our aim is to be able to take the oil spill wand to the site of the oiled birds and clean the birds quickly, with less stress and ultimately, we hope, in a releasable condition after 15- 20 minutes if the oil is no longer an immediate threat.”
This technology will hopefully improve the lives of the 100,000 sea creatures who are affected by oil spills at the current time.
Dr Dann added that, “Oil spills have a devastating effect on the environment but with the oil spill wand we can dramatically reduce the impact they have on wildlife such as penguins.”
To vote for either of these projects visit: https://impactchallenge.withgoogle.com/australia2014 To download wildlife witness and help stop wildlife trafficking go here: https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/wildlife-witness/id738897823?mt=8
Photo Credit: Taronga Zoo and The Penguin Foundation
