The poaching of rhinoceros has increased dramatically the last few years andthe park rangers are often helpless against the militarised poachers. LinköpingUniversity is running several projects with the goal to aid the park rangers intheir work.This master thesis was produced at CybAero AB, which builds Remotely PilotedAircraft System (RPAS). With their helicopters, high end cameras with a rangesufficient to cover the whole area can be flown over the parks.The aim of this thesis is to investigate different methods to automatically findrhinos and humans, using airborne cameras. The system uses two cameras, onecolour camera and one thermal camera. The latter is used to find interestingobjects which are then extracted in the colour image. The object is then classifiedas either rhino, human or other. Several methods for classification have beenevaluated.The results show that classifying solely on the thermal image gives nearly as highaccuracy as classifying only in combination with the colour image. This enablesthe system to be used in dusk and dawn or in bad light conditions. This is animportant factor since most poaching occurs at dusk or dawn. As a conclusion asystem capable of running on low performance hardware and placeable on boardthe aircraft is presented. / Tjuvjakten av noshörningar har ökat drastiskt de senaste åren och parkvakternastår ofta handfallna mot militariserade tjuvjägare. Linköpings Universitet arbetarpå flera projekt som på olika sätt ska vara ett stöd för parkvakterna i deras arbete.Examensarbetet genomfördes på CybAero AB som jobbar med att bygga fjärrstyrdahelikoptrar, så kallade RPAS (Remotely Piloted Aircraft System). Med derassystem kan man bära högkvalitativa kameror och ha stor räckvidd så hela parkenkan övervakas.Det här examensarbetet syftar på att undersöka olika metoder för att från luftburnakameror kunna ge information om vad som pågår i parken. System bygger påatt man har två kameror, en vanlig färgkamera och en värmekamera. Värmekamerananvänds för att hitta intressanta objekt som sedan plockas ut ur färgbilden.Objektet klassificeras sedan som antingen noshörningar, människor eller annat.Flertalet metoder har utvärderas utefter deras förmåga att klassificera objektenkorrekt.Det visade sig att man kan få väldigt bra resultat när man klassificerar endastpå värmebilden vilket ger systemet möjlighet att operera även när det är skymningeller mörkt ute. Det är en väldigt viktig del då de flesta djuren skjuts vidantingen gryning eller skymning. Som slutsats i rapporten presenteras ett förslagpå system som kan köras på lågpresterande hårdvara för att kunna köras direkt iluften.

This dissertation examines the laws relating to poaching in South Africa - where these laws originated, how they were influenced by the long history of laws against poaching in England, and how they were shaped by factors unique to South Africa. In particular, what is examined is the extent to which laws against poaching were designed and employed historically as a deliberate foam of social control,. and to enable control of property and access to natural resources, in both England and South Africa. The dissertation is divided into two sections. The first section is an examination of English laws and mores against poaching from the date of the Norman Conquest, I066, until near the end of the Victorian era in the late nineteenth century, The second section is an examination of South African laws against poaching, from the early years of the Cape Colony until the early part of the twentieth century. Where appropriate,comparisons are drawn and distinctions made between the English and the South African experiences. Direct and indirect influences which the English poaching and game laws had on South African laws are considered Aspects of English and South African history which are considered include game legislation, preservationist policies, colonial expansion, class consciousness~indigenous hunting systems, and resistance to and enforcement of laws against poaching. The overriding impression gained from a historical study o/poaching laws and other game legislation is that these laws were never concerned solely with preservation of wild animal species for any intrinsic worth these species might have, or even for conservation purposes. Rather, such laws have been driven by the narrow economic and social interests of the upper classes and the lawmakers. The experience of both England and South Africa has been that (he more scarce natural resources become, the more strictly these are reserved to the dominant political groups. It is not always easy to distinguish between influence on and parallel evolution of legal experiences, but numerous features of English laws can be found within South African history. Some are clearly deliberate impositions,. but there are also important invasions by elitist consciousness. However, there are also important differences. In particular, the Roman-Dutch common law in South Africa had a Significant influence on poaching laws. And to an extent South African history was shaped by a reaction to the restrictions ofEnglish poaching laws. The objection might be made that this dissertation deals as much with general game control laws, as with laws enacted strictly to deal with poaching. The word 'poaching' is itself not encountered in South African legislation in the period under discussion. However, the conclusion reached is that the aim and the effect of the game laws in South Africa and England has historically been the transformation of the lower class hunter, the subsistence hunter, into an illegal hunter or 'poacher '. / Thesis (LL.M.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, and Nottingham, England, 2001.

Res. Project (M.R.M.) - Simon Fraser University, 2005. / Theses (School of Resource and Environmental Management) / Simon Fraser University.

Res. Project (M.R.M.) - Simon Fraser University, 2005. / Theses (School of Resource and Environmental Management) / Simon Fraser University.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stevens Point, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-79).

The purpose of this thesis is to provide a detailed analysis of a relatively narrow issue belonging to the criminal law, namely the criminal offence of poaching. The key part of this work examines the merits of § 304 of the Act no. 40/2009, The Criminal Code, and focuses also on its systematic inclusion in the head VIII, called Crimes against the Environment, constituting a part of the special section of the aforementioned code. I attempt to gather the existing conclusions of the doctrine as well as the jurisprudence and to present them in an organized way. I also endeavour to critically assess a number of selected passages and to add my own reflections. In addition, several practical examples are briefly highlighted in order to enrich this work. This thesis will be divided into four main chapters - the Introduction, the Poaching legislation de lege lata, the Poaching legislation de lege ferenda and the Conclusion. Regarding the introduction, the reasons which led me to choose and critically analyse this socially negative phenomenon are shortly outlined. Furthermore, I explain my view of poaching as a long-lasting problem in our society. With respect to the chapter dealing with the poaching legislation de lege lata, it forms the main part of this thesis. Firstly, I aim to consistently categorize...

In present days hunting in not only a livelihood as it was plenty years ago. Nowadays it helps among others to achieve sustainable and durable development of the environment. The purpose of the thesis is to analyze the hunting law in both, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The paper consists of ten chapters. First chapter introduces hunting legislation during the period of the common state formed by the Czechs and Slovaks. First Act which was applied in the whole territory of the former Czechoslovakia was the Hunting Act no. 225 adopted in 1947. This Act was based on the principle of connection right of hunt with the right of property to the land. Right to hunt meant inter alia a right to protect a game. In 1962 was adopted a new Hunting Act which was in accordance with the law principles of that period. Main principle of the Hunting Act of 1962 was separation of right to hunt from property right to land. Chapters Two and Three contain the relevant description of the legislation of the European Union and norms of the international law related to the hunting. The main purpose of the EU legislation as well as of the international law is the protection of the species and the nature. Due to the differences in the hunting traditions in the member states the common European hunting legislation is not desirable....

The black lechwe Kobus leche smithemani) is an antelope that belongs to the family reduncinae. Its current population is confined to the Bangweulu Basin in the northern Zambia. This research was undertaken to assess its current population status, the sex and age ratios, carrying capacity of the flood-plain where it occurs and its maximum sustainable yield. The study also estimated its potential sustainable off-take and looked into the links that exists between wildlife and socio-economics in order to demonstrate the views of local people on current wildlife management and utilisation. Historical records suggest that these antelopes were more widely spread and more numerous earlier last century. Until the 1930s the population may have numbered over 250 000. Records indicate major population decline during the first half of last century and therefore called for a quick management action. The population decline was thought to be caused by over-hunting and habitat change caused by an increase in water levels in the swamps. Aerial surveys during the 1950s suggested less than 20000 and by 1970 only 16 000 lechwe were counted from the air. From 1988-1996, ground surveys were undertaken with a four-wheel drive vehicle, on motor bike and on foot. A series of aerial censuses was also conducted during October, at the height of the dry season when the lechwe are relatively evenly distributed in the swamps, thus facilitating the use of stratified random sampling method. A fixed wing cessina 182 was used throughout the surveys. The study revealed that black lechwe is a highly prolific and resilient species. Its population has great potential to increase if given adequate protection and proper managed. Mating takes place on shallow flood-plains between November and April, but peaks in March. Receptive females leave their herds to join small breeding ground comprising few dominant males, which may be likened to leks formed by some other antelopes. The population of lechwe is currently maintained around 30,000. The sex ratio of the species is equal to unity and the age ratio was estimated at 3 : 1. The entire Bangweulu wetlands can sustain a population of at least 160 000 lechwe. A sustainable off-take of 6 000 individuals per annum was recommended. Black lechwe being an endemic species to the Bangweulu Basin is important for the economy of the country and the rural population. The study has revealed that local people are keen to participate in conserving it together with other species and the habitat as long as they are clear about benefits that they will gain from their effort. / Dissertation (MSc (Wildlife Management))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Centre for Wildlife Management / unrestricted

In an understocked game management area surrounding privately managed Kasanka national park in the Central Province of Zambia, local attitudes towards conservation and park-people relations were examined in the context of a community based natural resource management program. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to 260 households and a multiple linear regression was used to analyze the data. Significant socioeconomic factors and attributes of households relevant in explaining positive conservation attitudes were education, employment with the park, and experience with outreach efforts. Outreach though is constrained by the limits on revenue generation of a small park, low communication of program purpose, and poor relations between park management and the chief. Support for conservation is undermined by antagonism between locals and wildlife scouts and crop damage by elephants. However, attitudes should improve with a strategy to address human-elephant conflict and enhance communication of the programs accomplishments and objectives.

Approximately three rhinos are poached daily in South Africa. Rhino poaching is a serious problem that a ects not only the rhino population of South Africa, but also the rhino population of the world. South Africa has the largest rhino population and of those rhinos the largest number can be found in the Kruger National Park (KNP). The KNP has been hit the hardest by the poaching epidemic, losing 1,175 rhinos in 2015 alone. Two big challenges are the size of the park and the unknown locations of both the poachers and new poaching events. The KNP is the size of a small country and there are simply not enough rangers to patrol this area e ectively. A costly solution would be to employ more rangers, but a proposed alternative is to reduce the search space and thus ensure that the rangers are allocated to the high risk areas first. A mathematical model was developed in the form of a Bayesian network (BN) to infer the most important factors contributing to poaching events and to model the rhino poaching problem. This model can be used to predict the area in which a future poaching attack could take place and thereby reduce the search area of rangers. The model also serves as a vehicle to enhance the understanding of the problem and encourage reasoning and discussion amongst decision makers. The map of the KNP is divided into cells and each cell is given a poaching probability, based on the outcome of the BN. This probability map forms a heat map that can be shown to the control centre and rangers can then be sent to the respective hotspots on the map. This is a proactive approach, which is in stark contrast to the numerous reactive approaches attempted thus far. This is the first BN modelling approach to the rhino poaching problem, and it is also the first BN application to wildlife crime. Previous applications of BN have only gone so far as environmental modelling, but not wildlife crimes. In this study the rhino poaching problem was shifted from a complex, ill-structured space to a position where researchers can begin to address the underlying problems by using a causal model as the vehicle for understanding the complex interplay between the factors a ecting poaching events. / Ongeveer drie renosters word daagliks in Suid-Afrika gestroop. Renosterstroping is 'n ernstige probleem wat nie net die renosterbevolking van Suid-Afrika raak nie, maar ook die res van die wêreld. Suid-Afrika het die grootste renoster bevolking in die wêreld, en die grootste getal van dié renosters word in die Kruger Nasionale Park (KNP) aangetref. Die KNP word die ergste geraak deur die stropings epidemie en 1,175 renosters is in 2015 gestroop. Twee groot uitdagings is die grootte van die park, asook die onbekende posisies van beide die stropers en die nuwe stropingsaanvalle. Die KNP is die grootte van 'n klein land en daar is eenvoudig nie genoeg veldwagters om hierdie area e ektief te patrolleer nie. 'n Duur oplossing sou wees om meer veldwagters aan te stel, maar 'n alternatief is om die soekarea van die veldwagters te verklein en sodoende te verseker dat die veldwagters die hoë-risiko areas eerste, en meer gereeld, patrolleer. 'n Wiskundige model in die vorm van 'n Bayesiese netwerk (BN) is ontwikkel om die belangrikste faktore te bepaal wat bydra tot stropingsaanvalle en uiteindelik die probleem te modelleer. Hierdie model kan gebruik word om die area te voorspel waar 'n stropingsaanval moontlik kan plaasvind en die soekarea van die veldwagters te verminder. Dit dien ook as 'n kanaal om die begrip van die probleem te verbeter en redenasie en bespreking onder besluitnemers aan te moedig. Die kaart van die KNP word in selle verdeel en aan elke sel word 'n stropingswaarskynlikheid toegeken gebaseer op die uitkoms van die BN. Hierdie waarskynlikheidskaart vorm 'n "hittekaart" wat aan die kontrolesentrum gewys kan word, en veldwagters kan dan na die onderskeie responskolle op die kaart gestuur word. Hierdie pro-aktiewe benadering is in teenstelling met huidige reaktiewe benaderings. Hierdie is die eerste BN modellering benadering tot die renosterstropingsprobleem, en dit is ook die eerste BN toepassing tot natuurlewe-misdaad. Vorige toepassings van BNs het omgewingsmodellering aangespreek, maar nie natuurlewe-misdade nie. In hierdie studie word aangetoon hoe die renosterstropings probleem geskuif is vanaf 'n komplekse, swak gestruktureerde probleemruimte na 'n omgewing waar navorsers kan begin om die onderliggende probleme aan te spreek deur gebruik te maak van 'n kausale model as die voertuig van begrip om die komplekse wisselwerking tussen faktore wat 'n stropingsaanval beïnvloed, te verstaan. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / PhD / Unrestricted