Four Ways Technology is Helping Wildlife

There's no question that science and technology have created some fairly huge problems for animals around the globe. For example, the Texas-sized patch of plastics and chemical sludge floating around the Pacific Ocean, or how cell phones could wipe out gorillas in the Congo. But it isn't all gloom and doom.

Here, in no particular order, are four of a multitude of cool ways technology helps protect animals.

CSI for Whales

We've done a lot of writing about whales here lately, and rightfully so. For too long, Japan has been getting a pass from its fellow nations while playing fast and loose with the rules on commercial whaling. There's also pretty good evidence that some of Japan's whale kills, while allegedly for scientific purposes, are ending up on dining tables.

Enter DNA testing for whales, which you can read all about in this HuffPo piece. Long story short, DNA analysis of whale meat being served up in Japan indicated a much larger variety of species than Japan is allowed to kill for "science."

Cranes Fly the Friendly Skies with FWS

Whooping cranes are among the most endangered species here in the U.S. — there are still less than 400 in the wild. Because of the tiny population, you have to keep them in protected lands, but at the same time, they've also got to migrate. Right now, they spend part of the year in Wisconsin before undertaking a long trip to Florida.

In order to make the cranes end up where they're supposed to, the Fish and Wildlife Service has been using ultralight aircraft to guide the cranes on their migratory path. Better, the program dovetails into something decidedly low-tech. After one trip, the cranes are able to migrate on their own without assistance.

From Inland Sea to Desert and Back Again

The Aral Sea, located in Kazakhstan, used to be the world's fourth-biggest inland sea. Back in the Cold War days, the Soviet government began siphoning water from the river feeding the Aral to support massive (and unsustainable) agriculture. Without the freshwater river feeding it, the Aral shrank to about 10 percent of its former size, and what little water was left became too salty to support life.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan took steps to bring back the Aral. It started with the town of Aralsk building a dam to isolate the North Aral from the southern part of the sea-turned-desert. That got the national government and the World Bank interested, and in 2005, a permanent dam was completed.

Today, the fish are back, as are the birds and native plant life. Salinity (which killed off most of the fish) is close to original levels. There's still a long way to go in the Aral Sea, and truth be told, it will probably never be where it was before the Soviet government decided that putting cotton farms on arid steppes was a good idea. Nonetheless, the region's ecosystem is in better shape today than it was twenty years ago, and signs point to continuing improvement.

More Than Just LOLcats

The number-one technological benefit for animals worldwide is right in front of you: the internet. Never before have we been able to find resources and facts about the causes we support, and never have we had the tools to connect with each other and use our collective voices for good.

Thanks to online video, we can catch animal abusers in the act, whether they're working in a slaughterhouse or for a government-sponsored tourism campaign. When you see something that gets your blood boiling, you can sign a petition online (or create your own) and put the squeeze on the decision-makers. And, if you've got a few extra bucks, you can put it to good use with a donation — locally or halfway across the world.

It used to be that the big-money people who put profits ahead of humane action had the cashflow, so they called the shots. They've still got the cash, but nowadays, the playing field is a little more level. (That's why it's crucial that you read up on net neutrality — we need to keep the field more, not less, level.)

Technology isn't the root of all evil in our society. But neither is it going to save us all single-handedly. The best we can do is make sure that we're using the technology available to us, tempered with human judgement, in the most effective, sustainable, and humane way we can.

Photo credit: taberandrew