Leveraging animal tracking to combat wildlife crime: GPS-tagged vultures and wolves as sentinels of other species’ poaching

Title (eng)
Leveraging animal tracking to combat wildlife crime: GPS-tagged vultures and wolves as sentinels of other species’ poaching
Author
Patricia Mateo-Tomás
Author
María Fernández-García
Author
Jorge Rodríguez-Pérez
Author
João Pedro Valente e Santos
Author
Iván Gutiérrez
Author
Javier de la Puente
Author
Volen Arkumarev
Author
Aldin Selimovic
Author
Šárka Frýbová
Author
Miroslav Kutal
Mendel Brno
Author
Cláudio Bicho
Author
Emilio J García
Author
José Vicente López-Bao
Abstract (eng)
From satellite imagery to drones or camera traps, remote technologies are increasingly used to enhance wildlife crime detection worldwide. Whereas remotely tracking individuals allows for prompt detection of their illegal persecution, much less attention (concentrated in oceanic ecosystems) has been paid to tagged animals as sentinels to detect other species’ poaching through their interspecific interactions. We illustrate this potential in terrestrial ecosystems by showing how GPS-tagged vultures, able to quickly locate dead animals, and GPS-collared wolves enabled the detection of poached wildlife of other species (i.e., illegally shot or snared wild ungulates and carrion-baited illegal snares) in Europe. We further discuss how these interspecific interactions could be systematically monitored to improve detectability of poaching events. Considering the wide variety of tracked wildlife across ecosystems, taking their interactions (e.g., scavenging) into account will enhance the utility of animal-borne technologies in addressing illegal wildlife persecution.
Type (eng)
journal article
Language
[eng]
Persistent identifier
https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:5070
DOI
10.1093/biosci/biaf136
Is in series
Title (eng)
BioScience
Volume
75
Issue
12
ISSN
0006-3568
Issued
2025
Number of pages
8
Publication
Oxford University Press
Version type (eng)
version of record (published version)
Date issued
2025
Access rights (eng)
open access
License
CC BY-NC 4.0 International
Rights statement (eng)
© The Author(s) 2025