Original Article: https://blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/japanese-city-wolf-robots-scare-off-bears/
In an attempt to scare off bears in one Japanese city, Takikawa, which is located on the northern island of Hokkaido, has purchased two robots that can only be described as the stuff of nightmares. The two monster wolves won’t just scare away bears, but probably some people too!
The animatronic wolf robots are fitted with infrared sensors that can detect any nearby bears. When a bear is detected, the robot will start producing sounds as well as shaking its head. If that’s not scary enough, the robots’ eyes will also light up red. In addition to these features, the robots have menacing white fangs and fur – all features that we wouldn’t want to encounter during the nighttime.
But more than that, these robots can produce over 60 types of sounds which vary between human voices, gunshots, and wolf howls – all so that the bears will not get used to the robots and they’ll still get scared. Pretty clever idea on the creator’s part.
クマ撃退にオオカミの形の装置 北海道 滝川市が本格導入検討t.co/QdqdoLdTOE#nhk_video pic.twitter.com/c4gMFdFmKs
— NHKニュース (@nhk_news) October 19, 2020
The city of Takikawa has about 41,000 residents, however, in recent times, ABC News has reported that the city has seen more activity from bears. They are dangerous during their foraging excursions, but the bears are particularly dangerous around the late autumn time as they are foraging for food prior to their winter hibernations – and that requires a lot of food. City officials are thinking that a decrease in acorns and nuts out in the wild has caused bears to venture further into residential areas in search of food.
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Because of the increase of bear activity, the city of Takikawa has decided that they need to be proactive with their deterrence. And with the launch of the two robots during the month of September, there have been no reported bear encounters. Because of the trial’s initial success, Takikawa is now thinking of rolling them out to other places. They seem to be proving fairly popular, as the creator of the robots, the company called Ohta Seiki, has reportedly sold about 70 of their robots in the last two years, according to ABC News.
【動画あり】オオカミ型ロボット「モンスターウルフ」 効果が証明され本格導入へ 設置中の食害はゼロt.co/QNrPW9V4jl
想像以上に怖かった…(;゚Д゚) pic.twitter.com/bMGzSFNElJ
— sakamobi.com (@sakamobi) March 21, 2018
ABC News reported that the company’s president, Yuji Ohta, stated, “We have included many methods in its design to drive off bears, so I am confident it will be effective. If this can help create an environment that bears and people can both live in, I will be happy.”
Bear sightings in the western and northern parts of Japan have been at a five-year high, and they’ve experienced dozens of bear attacks. Two of those happened to be fatal, and as a result, there was an emergency government meeting to find a solution. It turned out that the solution they chose was also a humane one in that bears are not killed, they’re simply scared off – a wonderful example of how people and wildlife can find solutions to coexist together in peace.
Source: The Animal Rescue Site Blog