AI cameras in Similipal Tiger Reserve cut poaching.

• Similipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha has implemented TrailGuard AI, an early alert system that uses AI cameras to identify poachers.
• The system has helped wildlife officials arrest 96 poachers and seize over 86 country-made guns in the last 10 months.
• The cameras are located in the reserve’s vegetation and perform AI inference on the edge to sort between various object classes.
• The AI-enabled cameras are tucked away in the reserve’s thick vegetation and are monitored via a control room in the headquarters.
• Wildlife officials use intelligence sources to identify poachers caught on camera, including their regular staff who go undercover to collect information about them.
• The arrests in 2024 led to one conviction, obtained within six months, and colleagues are hoping for two or three more convictions soon.
• TrailGuard AI cameras are smaller, cheaper, and durable, costing roughly ₹ 50,000-53,000 per unit.
• The system has been effective in reducing poaching, but it has also restricted access to tribal communities, who rely on hunting as a part of their culture.
• The system has been deployed in five states, at more than 14 sites, and has been implemented in the Kanha Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh and Dudhwa National Park in Uttar Pradesh.