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November 23, 2017

WildLife Tracking – the cooperation between Trusted and Savannah Tracking

Today our strategic business partner in Kenya paid us a visit to our new office at Glarmestervej. Watch and read the interview with Henrik Barner Rasmussen and hear more about our corporation with Savannah Tracking who is working with tracking of endangered species and wild animals.

Savannah Tracking has been working with tracking of wild animals since it was founded by Henrik Barner Rasmussen in 2008.

Originally the company set out tracking animals for scientific research as Barner Rasmussen had himself done research in the field of elephant’s behavior and conservation while getting his Ph.D. in biology.

These days, the main business is managing wildlife in close proximity to human settlements and, sadly, anti-poaching seems to take up a larger amount of the company’s time and work.

Wildlife management is about keeping unwanted animals out of the way of humans for the protection of both parties. A tracker is mounted on the animal, and if it breaches a certain perimeter of a village or farming areas, a system will go off with a siren to scare away the animal and to alert the farmer in question that he may go out and ward off the animals himself saving his crops or livestock.

During his work with tracking elephants, Barner Rasmussen found himself with equipment breakdowns and having to fix trackers in the field, and he soon realized that for any project to succeed, the tracking device must be of the best quality and a high degree of stability. One of the biggest elephant conservation programmes in Africa is “Save The Elephants” who have chosen to work with Savannah Tracking as they find their product to be the most trustworthy, a product that Savannah Tracking has developed along with Trusted to ensure the needed features in the tracker for this particular kind of animal tracking. We asked Managing Director Henrik Barner Rasmussen to share his experience working with Trusted, and here is what he told us.

Q: What made you choose Trusted?

A: Initially, we were looking for a business partner with a product resilient enough for the life of a wild animal. We wanted something stable and reliable, something sturdy enough for roaming the plains of Africa, with a long battery life and the ability to endure and function for years without any problems, and Trusted seemed on their website to be able to deliver. I emailed them at first, and then phoned and came for a visit, because I find it important to work with someone with whom you have a connection. Chemistry is important for a frugal partnership, and we just clicked.

Q: What can you tell us about working with Trusted?

A: I have worked closely with Nicolaj and Jørgen from Trusted on developing new key features in trackers for us to use, and they are always very open and accommodativeand they bring their knowledge on tracking devices whilst we bring our specific needs and wishes in a tracker for giraffes of small impalas, and we work together for the best option. They never simply comply, they always excel and improve on our thoughts. And where many businesses do not allow for all the worst-case scenarios we imagine, working with Trusted they have always been open to our experiences in the field and how to incorporate that into our solutions.

Q: What do you see in the future of your collaboration?

A: We have a plan of branching out to North America, working with human/wildlife conflict in large rural areas or national parks where predators like grizzly bears, wolves, or coyotes may be a problem when coming to close to inhabited areas for scavenging or easy prey of livestock, and we certainly see Trusted’s tracking devices adapted from African to North American species of animals.

Q: What do you appreciate the most about working with Trusted?

A: I used to work with tracking devices when I studied and conducted research, and sometimes I found myself having to fiddle with equipment to make some faulty device work again, and I learned that this stuff simply needs to stay operative throughout a drought or a downpour or whatever else it may encounter. I took a leap of faith in choosing Trusted, because it seemed like quality products, because the chemistry was good, and because – even though tech is rarely beautiful – they simply deliver elegant devices. Looking back, I especially value their input and genuine interest in making the best possible product for our needs in the field. They always stay on time, and we solve things together.

Please watch the full interview.

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