Although working outside, and finding a one-ness with nature may be the ideal place for you, being a conservation officer is no easy job. Working independently under pressure, responding to criticism and having a bit of a thick skin are all necessary traits in being successful at your job. Two of the most overlooked difficulties in being a wildlife officer are, and dealing with animals and people that come into conflict with each other and, ultimately, putting animals down.
In dealing with the human aspect, The Ministry of the Environment in Victoria, B.C. is providing new tools to Conservation Officers, which grant them greater access to information. This in turn helps them monitor conflicts between wildlife and humans that involve public safety as well as environmental violations.
Conservation Officers are receiving iPhone pilots to use, provided under the provincial program entitled the Flexible Work Tools Initiative. Benefits of this cutting-edge technology include cost-effectiveness, efficiency, and more importantly, and increase in responsiveness to everyday incidents.
This icon of modern technology makes it easier for local officers to see details of past incidents as well as get a timely stream of information they need such as maps, photos and a history of any violations.
The iPhone also reduces administrative tasks in the field and makes trips back to the office for paperwork fewer an far between. Some of the specialized applications developed for them include; scanning and verifying fishing licenses for online verification, using voice recognition software through recorded video in creating MS Word documents for reports, charting, mapping and GPS functions and converting documents to a more universal format such as Adobe PDF format.
The fall of 2011 will also see, as part of an action plan toward technology, the installation of rugged laptops in patrol vehicles.
Could this mean even more YouTube nature videos ?
