flir equips game wardens in their battle to protect our endangered species

Image courtesy FLIR/WWF

​Not only is this a good move in combatting prejudice towards our favorite industry by appealing to environmentalists and other anti-gunners, but we suspect its the beginning of a trend. As our species’ population expands well-beyond critical mass and practical sustainability, military-grade tools and force will be increasingly used to protect what’s left of our natural environments and safeguard the keystone species that are critical to every creatures survival, not least our own. 

​FLIR is leading the way by giving game wardens in Africa the night vision capability to find poachers skulking around in the dark through vast expanses of land with the malfeasant intention of killing elephants and other endangered species: typically these poachers are extremely difficult to locate, but with night vision now in play (and no doubt on a fleet of drones) there is now a flicker of hope we can stop the blood letting. And thankfully China, who’s largely fueling the multi billion dollar trade in illegal ivory and numerous other animal products used in traditional medicines and aphrodisiacs, has promised to cease and desist (at least on the ivory) by the end of 2017, but in the interim another 100,000 elephants will likely die to satisfy Asia's insatiable appetite for tusk. 

Companies like FLIR should be heralded for enabling the brave men and women who combat the poachers, and any company producing military grade equipment would do well to join this worthy cause before the black and white rhinos, pangolins, zebras, elephants, wild dogs and giraffes that excited our childhood imaginations can only be seen by OUR children on Google images! ED