LeopardEye – Technology for Coexistence
LeopardEye progress update 25 April 2025 (next update due late May 2025)
Conservation Technology has in recent years become increasingly important as a factor to understand, monitor and protect wildlife and habitat. LeopardEye is our key tool within that thinking with the added caveat that to protect wildlife there has to be a strong emphasis on the safety of people as human-wildlife coexistence challenges increase. Human-wildlife conflict (HWC) mitigation and combatting illegal wildlife trade (IWT) within Wildlife Crime are our use cases for LeopardEye.
Human-wildlife conflict is one the most pressing conservation issues facing biodiversity health. WildTiger’s focus using LeopardEye is species in South Asia where serious conflict results in human fatalities and can result in retaliation killings. Livestock depredation and crop raiding are also serious issues leading to retaliation underlying the dynamic that human livelihood comes under the safety umbrella.
LeopardEye uses a range of technologies depending on circumstance which include level of threat, location and network capabilities including hardware of our design based on several year’s experience and learning in the field. Currently we rely on 4G networks with development and testing in progress for the use of satellites and long range radio wave capability (LoRa). LeopardEye is built on the philosophy of real time alert systems which enable people living in conflict zone areas to be warned of the presence of the species named above. We now deploy LeopardEye across projects in India/Nepal from the lowland plains of the Terai right up to 4500m in the Himalaya. LeopardEye while having a strong technical component also has central to its core community engagement, the practice of those living with wildlife having real time warning and involvement with the warning process. We thank Wildlife Protection Solutions (WPS) for their ongoing guidance and support and we also express our gratitude to the Katie Adamson Conservation Fund (KACF) for their vital support during the development phase. We encourage public support, you can connect directly with coordinator Jack Kinross through contact links HERE.
As development continues we are also embracing the use of artificial intelligence including for the following:
Collaborative Innovation AI serves as a catalyst for developing innovative solutions, from creating tools for real-time conflict detection to refining techniques for monitoring and protecting vulnerable wildlife populations.
Data Analysis and Insights Through advanced data analysis, AI helps us uncover trends and patterns from real-time monitoring systems. This allows us to identify and address key areas where human-wildlife conflict occurs, as well as pinpoint hotspots for illegal wildlife trafficking, ensuring we allocate resources effectively.
Actionable Reporting AI-powered tools assist in creating detailed, actionable reports from live data. These reports highlight strategies to minimize conflict between humans and wildlife while strengthening efforts to combat poaching and trafficking.
Awareness and Education By leveraging AI, we can craft impactful educational materials and communication strategies. These resources aim to promote coexistence between humans and wildlife and raise awareness about the critical threats posed by wildlife trafficking.
A brief History of LeopardEye’s Evolution is as follows:
The image above was a springboard for LeopardEye. It was taken by a remote camera stationed at about 1100m elevation on the northern boundary of Bardiya National Park and the buffer zone where just a few days before a woman had tragically been killed by a leopard. By receiving the image in real time and sending out alerts to the community their safety was ensured by making sure that no one entered the area for at least 24 hours while we monitored using the technology. It was the community’s highly positive response to our efforts that gave encouragement we were on the right path whereby technical intervention and community engagement could combine. Unfortunately the advent of the covid-19 pandemic slowed progress but we continued development as best we could.
Fast forward to mid April 2025 with big improvements in 4G connectivity and robust hardware developments, we’re now in a position of confidence to roll out LeopardEye to a wide scale. We are deploying in human-wildlife conflict highly affected areas which are also bases for further testing and development. In conjunction with the early warning approach there are three other key elements we are developing and currently testing as per below:
This type of deterrence ties in with second element we are working on and this is the use of artificial intelligence to help identify problematic animals based on collected evidence in growing datasets. Individual ID has long been a laborious task for species such as leopard, snow leopard, tiger and elephant so these advances will ensure much greater efficiency in human-wildlife conflict mitigation. We’ll update as progress as the rapid rate of development in AI tools and other technical applications continues. The progress includes the building of the LeopardEye app.
Another key development is habitat monitoring in relation to climate change and the safety of people in areas of risk. Below are images from our initial trekker safety initiative in the Annapurna Himalaya as people made their way through avalanche zones.
Habitat monitoring is an area we are expanding on with developments currently taking place in 2025 including Himalayan high altitude technical implementation. This includes high altitude wildlife monitoring and further progress in avalanche detection and understanding glacier recession.
As mentioned LeopardEye is also implemented in a separate technical use in WildTiger’s efforts to combat Wildlife Crime. This is conducted in partnership with authorized counter poaching and trafficking agencies with strategies used kept in confidence.