Young Techies Design Software To Record Wildlife Crimes in Kerala

Kerala-based Leopard Tech Labs forayed into conservation technology with the launch of an app Sarpa for snakes. The company was incubated in the Startups Valley at Amal Jyothi College of Engineering in Kanjirapally, Kottayam by two techies Allen Shaji and Sobin Mathew. In 2018, Leopard Tech Labs, for the first time developed a system for the Kerala forest department along with the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI). ¡®Hostile Activity Watch Kernel¡¯ (HAWK) was launched by the Kerala forest department to digitally document wildlife crimes after the 2015 ivory poaching case. Today, Kerala forest department has entirely migrated to this system, transitioning from manual to a digital documenting process, in a first-of-its kind initiative.

Allen Shaji and Sobin Mathew, Co-founders from Leopard Tech Labs talk about their conservation technology wing and working on HAWK.

How HAWK was initiated...

WTI

We have a conservation technology wing at Leopard Tech Labs and have previously developed apps for wildlife. We developed HAWK with Wildlife Trust of India and the forest department. This happened after the 2015 ivory poaching case.

The major concern of the forest department was that after a wildlife crime, everything was documented manually. So, the initial discussion was- how can we automate the system.

Conservation technology has not been explored much in India by the techies, but it has a lot of potential. There is a lot that can be done for conservation.

Before HAWK was initialized, the officers had different types of forms, arrest memos. The incidence of manmade errors, missing out filling information, was happening. Here, after 24 hours of reporting an offence or entering an offence on the portal, it will be locked, and no one will be able to update the information or manipulate.

What is HAWK?

travelinn.in

HAWK is a wildlife crime intelligence gathering system. With latest digital technology, the system consolidates all information to determine the key factors in crime or a possible crime scenario.

Where and when was it launched?

The pilot phased started in five ranges in Kerala, in 2019. We made the initial modules and presented it to the forest department. Based on the inputs given by the officials, the system was developed.

What changes with HAWK?

In the court, several documents have to be submitted when a case is charged. HAWK can generate all these documents with minimal data entry.

The main thing here is accuracy. With this minimal data, accurate information can be given. When a case is registered, the senior officials get a message on SMS and email. This makes monitoring more efficient.

Sharada Balasubramanian

Also, when the crime is recorded or documented, the senior officials can verify that; such options are available. If there is an issue in the document, they can reject it. If there are mistakes, they can ask them to rectify it.

Along with this, we have developed a wildlife death management software named shikra. If wildlife death happens inside or outside the forest, they have to register that too, which again is notified to senior officials. In which range it happened, if it is poaching, or electrocution, predation, hunting, natural death or any disease- all these death reasons are listed, almost 14-15 causes. In the parliament, when questions are asked relating to wildlife death, this information is now taken from HAWK. In a single click, for instance, the senior officials can get a report on how many tigers have died in a year.

We have also introduced a ¡®habitual offenders¡¯ section where we can fill in the physical details of the offender. If he has committed two or more crimes, then he will be marked as habitual offender as well. For instance, if the same offender has committed crime in say Palakkad, Walayar and Thiruvalla, the system will say it¡¯s a habitual offender and he could commit more crimes.

The analysis of data from HAWK would be very helpful after five years. For instance, where an animal dies, what could be the reasons, the timing of death, and so on. It could be a specific species, or a place, a cluster where crimes happen more. The forest department will study this.

The author is a multi award winning senior environment journalist based in Coimbatore. This investigation is part of a series on environmental crime in Asia, supported by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, the Henry Nxumalo Foundation and Oxpeckers Investigative Environmental Journalism.