Just installed BI & Top-201s and caught first thief in 2 weeks

[MarcW]

Preface; I have a wife and 4 kids, so while I would love a set of Dahua Starlights on all corners of my property, that simply isn't going to happen right now.

So I budget purchased a few top-201s and top-201-irs and mounted two of them on the mailbox. One facing north, the other facing south. Obviously these el-cheapo ip cams are NOT water proof, so I have jam packed them with plumbers putty and voila...no problem, even in the heavy Florida rain and heat.

Only a couple of weeks after mounting these cams to the railroad tie I have my black rural route mailbox attached to, some dumb ass decides they want to steal one of my Gopher Tortoises.

Watch:



Not realizing he had been caught red-handed, he took a protected species which under Florida law is an instant Felony conviction. Gopher tortoises are listed as threatened and protected at the same level as Manatees, Florida Panthers, Alligators etc.

My wife called the Sheriffs office, but I did one better and called the company 'JN Electric' and talked to their dispatch. About 1 hour later he returned and presumably put the Gopher back (I have that video, but he did it too far away to really tell if he put it back or not).

Hurray!!! One for the environment and my kids are happy as they watch that tortoise in our yard all the time.

The owner of the company sent me a short apology email claiming his 50+ employees and work crews would all be told to leave Florida wildlife alone from now on or get fired.

not sure if that really happened, but certainly that guy will think twice about stealing or harassing wildlife when he sees it.

 

[Parley]

The interesting thing is I bet the guy has no clue has to how you found out. I bet he thinks one of the people in the cars turned him in.

 

[nbstl68]

Can you see license plate numbers with those 201's either day or night?
Would be great if there was a cam that size that could see plates.

 

[MarcW]

Just barely...and only when the conditions are perfect (good lighting, car not speeding etc)...so I would say that its not consistent enough to say that its possible to read license plates at all.

But considering I purchased these cam's from Amazon Prime (free Shipping) for only $19.99 each I cannot complain. I never expected to catch a thief at the bottom of our long driveway (we live on acreage so I am simply happy I can finally see what goes on there).

I don't mind sacrificing quality as any larger quality cam would be smashed or stolen within a few weeks I assume. These super tiny black cams are the same color as the mailbox and blend right in...if you don't look closely, you don't even know they are there.

maybe tomorrow I will take a photo of the mailbox so you can see how I mounted them if anyone is interested.

 

[nbstl68]

Thx
You mentioned you us IR too. Do the cams themselves have IR built in or are tou using a eparate IR?
Are the night images with IR of any use?

 

[MarcW]

even though I am an electrical engineer, programmer and photographer by trade i am still a newb when it comes to these ip security cameras. The top-201 has no IR, the top-201-ir has a small built in ir ring and a light sensor (presumably to switch from color to B&W ir mode) and I also purchased two top-308 with no IR and adjustable zoom lenses.

For such a small cam, the ir version seem to work fairly well. but I did try to use two external ir lights to supplement the lighting at night, just to find out they do NOT work at all with the top-201 or the top-308 non IR cameras.

I am speculating that those two camera models have their lenses coated with an ir filter. I actually posted this question in the top-201 thread, but no one has responded to my query yet.

regarding these cameras at night, they do fairly well compared to my 8 year old d1-coax system, presumably because the 720p sensor is larger and more sensitive, but at night any cars lights blow the image out too much to make out a license plate without IR support.

So again, these cams are not going to work as license plate readers...but maybe soon I will get a Dahua Starlight cam and see how it does.

 

[NoloC]

From now on or get fired? Really?

I'd insist that guy gets fired. The business owner is in no position to resist. On line reputation these days is very important and you can apply pressure.
Anyone who would do this, let alone in a company van, deserves a "correction" in his life to help him be a better person. If you don't help him to that end, you are shirking your responsibility and rewarding him for being a jerk.

 

[MarcW]

not really, that particular tortoise has several boroughs that are in the woods off to the right in the video. My property line extends to within about 1 foot of the roadway, but yes that mowed area is considered a right of way for the county...so I own it, but they are allowed to use it, and that is where the power/cable/phone lines run as well. She (its a she) feeds along the side of the road all the time as the grass has some of the nutrients she needs that the leaves in the forest cannot provide.

Gophers are a listed 'threatened' species and while its encouraged to help them cross roads, it is a felony to relocate them. Most often if moved more than a hundred or so feet from their birthplace, they get confused and can die. They memorize the layout of the land from birth and if moved loose their sense of direction.

If someone were to take a deer, fox, raccoon from your yard, then at least sooner or later another one would migrate through, but due to the limited range, slow reproduction and long lifespan (50-60+ years), once someone takes a tortoise from your property, your not going to get one back...once its gone, its gone!

Clearly the thief was either going to eat it or give it to his kids.

 

[MarcW]

sure...welcome... I moved to Florida about 25 years ago and am still learning all about its protected wildlife and fisheries...neat stuff that the tourists that pass through here rarely get to see the depth of it all.

 

[wetto]

Overreacting a bit? The turtle was pretty close to a busy road there. Just possible that his motivation was to pick it up and release it somewhere safer.

This is what i was thinking when i watched the video, looks like a local though. Even though hes a local perhaps hes not aware of protected wildlife?

 

[Hoog23]

What would have become of him? Soup?

 

[MarcW]

The old timers in Florida would eat the huge tortoises in a heartbeat and from my neighbors, they have seen some old timers grab large tortoises presumably to eat them. I imagine thought that the person in the video is not a Florida native and probably a recent transplant. He probably thought it would be cool to give it to his kids.