Powerful Anti-Poaching Device: TiCAM 750 Thermal Imaging Binoculars
13 December 2013
Poaching is a global problem – from rhino in Africa to deer in the highlands of Scotland . In the UK , rising food prices and the continuing recession have led to a dramatic increase in illegal hunting and fishing throughout the country, mostly in rural areas.
The old-fashioned image of a man in a long coat out to put some food on his table has given way to organised gangs of criminals, well-armed and with packs of dogs; stealing to order – often for unscrupulous butchers and restaurant owners. All livestock and game can be at risk – from deer for their venison meat stalked and shot with high velocity rifles to salmon taken from aquaculture sites. Natural mussel beds have also been plundered and there was even a case in North Wales where wildlife officers apprehended two men for the theft of 200,000 wild bluebell bulbs.
Poaching can be well organised, with the most calculating offenders choosing to carry out their (generally night time) activities in areas where their poaching may not be noticed for several weeks at a time and when it is finally discovered by the landowner or the authorities, it can often be too late as the damage to stocks has already been done.
Anti-poaching patrols can be time consuming and usually involves covering a great deal of ground, sometimes spooking the very herd being protected with powerful spotlights from vehicles. In South Africa, specific Rhino are assigned their own 24 hour armed personal body guards. However – with TiCAM 750 hand held Thermal Imaging Binoculars very large areas can be monitored from an elevated position in minutes, easily tracking deer movements, looking for heat signatures from vehicles, campfires or indeed poachers with firearms.
TiCAM 750, developed by a British company Thermoteknix, is a thermal imaging device for monitoring and surveillance in complete darkness. One of Thermoteknix’ customers, Scott Country – a leading UK retailer in night vision – has been concentrating on providing estates, farmers and land owners with equipment for the use of combating wildlife crime in the UK.
They compared the TiCAM’s performance against one of the current thermal imagers in Scott Country’s portfolio. “A huge benefit of the TiCAM 750 in the fight against poaching was instantly obvious.” – said Paul Stewart, Sales Manager. TiCAM’s high resolution enables correct identification to determine whether an observed object of interest is a poacher with a rifle, for example or a roe deer on the hill. “The higher resolution and greater detection range of 2km+ in TiCAM allows us to see considerably more detail. We can actually see hair texture and defining features in the deer herd. With the 750LR (Long Range Model) we can clearly see the distinct shapes of the animals at extreme distances and define the deer against male and females, young and old herd members, due in part to the 640x480 detector resolution. We could even count antler points. This makes TiCAM binoculars ideal for deer surveys or herd analysis.” The joy of high resolution thermal imaging is that a vast area can be surveyed passively and without lighting equipment – so while the observer can see livestock and potential poachers, they cannot be detected themselves – effectively enabling covert anti-poaching surveillance which does not disturb the animals either. Recorded footage is instantly saved into internal memory of the camera and can then be downloaded to a computer. This may serve as evidence of illegal poaching to present to the police.
“As an anti-poaching device, the TiCAM 750 is a overwhelmingly powerful piece of kit, and for a commercial application or security and surveillance purpose nothing comes close.” – said Paul.
Other Press Releases By This Company
- 11/09/2014 - Wildlife through the lens: Thermoteknix cameras on loan to National Media Museum
- 02/09/2014 - Cutting Edge Thermal Imaging Technology to be presented at Africa Aerospace & Defence, South Africa and LandForces, Australia
- 07/03/2014 - Fused Night Vision demonstrated in Night Tunnel at Eurosatory 2014
- 19/02/2014 - Cutting Edge Thermal Imaging Technology at DSA 2014 and SOFEX 2014
- 24/10/2013 - Thermoteknix team with Kent Periscopes in new Sabre Ti Gunner/Commander’s sight
- 24/06/2013 - Fused Night Vision to be demonstrated in Night Tunnel at DSEi 2013
