Pune youths’ anti-poaching device promises to help save tigers

The Times of India , Thursday, January 08, 2015
Correspondent : TNN
PUNE: Two engineers, a biology student and a product designer have teamed up to make a collar device that will help tigers protect themselves from metal traps, electrocution and poisoning — the three most widely used means of poaching.

The 'Independent Anti-Poaching Device (IAPD)' is a sensor-based device to be fitted around the tiger's neck. The device is waiting a certificate of clearance from the Wildlife Institute of India. The group, meanwhile, has got permission from the chief conservator of forests to study tiger conditions in the Melghat tiger reserve in Amravati.

Pulse emission and optical sensors used in the collar are designed specific to the types of snares locally made in Indian villages. The snares include 220V-11kV current used for electrocution and an undetectable pesticide called 'Carbofuran' used to poison tigers. The device will alert the tiger about the presence of any of the three threats through a specific frequency to which the tiger is sensitive. There is no need for interference or supervision by humans. This frequency will be used by the IAPD to communicate the presence of imminent danger to the tiger. The frequency will also help communicate the direction of the danger so that the tiger does not run into a trap.

The device has been designed in a way that it does not hamper the natural processes of the animal or cause any physical or mental discomfort such as problems during mating or mental stress. The IAPD uses a higher and lighter form of silicon rubber camouflaged as the tiger's coat itself so that the presence of any foreign object on the cat's body is not obvious.

The concept and team was put together over a period of eight months by Shantanu Naidu, a mechanical engineer working with a private sector firm. The four-member team includes Mrinmayi Dalvi, a final year student of Fergusson College who researched the tiger's biology, Varun Natu from NBN Sinhgad School of Engineering, who researched materials and composites and Anay Kshirsagar of the Symbiosis Institute of Design, who worked on the product design. Manoj Badave, plant head at a private engineering firm, provided the necessary direction.

Shantanu Naidu (22), an animal lover and the brain behind the idea, is confident that the IAPD will serve its purpose. "The forest officials identified several practical problems during our discussions with them. We have addressed them in the design stage itself. We tried to make the IAPD as fail-safe as possible. Unlike previously used radio collars, ours does not require any human interference and is extremely light. In case a tiger is poisoned with carbofuran, the collar will transmit a signal and using the embedded GPS, forest officials would be able to locate the tiger and save it by administering an antidote," Naidu said.

Chief conservator of forests (wildlife) Sunil Limaye said, "The device is technically sound, but we are not sure how practical it is to be used as a collar. I have advised the group to have the technology weighted by the Wildlife Institute of India. Meanwhile, they can study tiger conditions in Melghat."

The group hopes to implement the design on other cat species, like the leopard, in the near future.

 
SOURCE : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Pune-youths-anti-poaching-device-promises-to-help-save-tigers/articleshow/45799933.cms
 


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