As oil from the Deep Horizon rig disaster continues to gush from the broken well head, 14,000 miles of northern Gulf Coastline are risk. The area is home to 400 wildlife species and 35 national wildlife refuges. Protecting it as well as saving affected animals is already straining rescue networks in place.
To make the job somewhat more manageable, Charlie Schweik, associate director of the National Center for Digital Government at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and colleagues developed MoGo, a free iPhone app that allows the user to photograph an oiled animal, pinpoint its location using GPS and transmit the information to an animal rescue network.
Users are also encouraged to submit photos of dead animals, sightings of oil or tar on beaches and oil slicks in the ocean or estuaries.
MoGo, which stands for Mobile Gulf Observatory, will empower locals who otherwise feel helpless to contribute to the relief effort and also help rescue networks better manage their take forces. The information will also be send to MoGo's database for later review by wildlife experts.
You can download the app from iTunes, here, and start pitching in.
Tags: Animals, Cell Phones, Internet, Online Community and Social Networking, Take Action
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