Kenya turns citizens into wildlife conservation actors

The National Museums of Kenya has launched a mobile app that will help wildlife authorities track rare and common mammals.

"This app now helps us to really map where these animals are and if they're in trouble we can get the authorities to come and help us and it gives me a great opportunity to show the tourists exactly where they are," owner of a camel safari John Perret was quoted as saying by AP.

"This will be a continuous census and we will know how well our animals are performing."

The app, Mammal Atlas Kenya, do not only benefits tourism, but those who work for animal welfare.

Researcher Simon Musila said the general public should participate in conserving mammals.

“One of the basic ways they can actually do that is whenever they see mammals anywhere they submit a record, that way is one of the important ways for them to participate in conserving mammals", he said.

The Kenyan Wildlife Service (KWS) says around 25,000 species of animal and 7000 species of plants have so far been recorded.