Digital innovations on paw patrol - 21st December 2020

Unlikely tactics have been employed by one Japanese town in a bid to deter bears from encroaching on their human neighbours. Takikawa, situated on Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido, has deployed robotic wolves in response to ursine incursions resulting in injuries and deaths.

Following dozens of bear attacks so far this year, two of them fatal, the government addressed the threat at a hurriedly convened emergency meeting. Officials have recorded a 5 year spike in bear sightings across the country, mostly occurring in Japan’s western and northern rural areas.

To counter this threat, Takikawa’s monster wolves employ sensors and a range of deterrents to alarm the grizzly predators. When triggered, the four-legged automatons, coated in shaggy grey fur, spring into action.

Their motorised heads illuminated with burning red eyes rotate from side to side and lights flash. Meanwhile, the contraption emits a piercing lupine howl accompanied by the sounds of grinding machinery.

This offers something of a departure from the features of Japan’s native wolf species, which roamed the country’s central and northern islands until hunted to extinction early in the last century.

In explaining the current rise in bear incidents, the local administration cited the seasonal change in the bears’ temperament as it forages for food ahead of its winter hibernation.

Usually feasting on an autumn bounty of acorns and nuts which has this year failed to appear, media reports suggest that it’s these hungry beasts’ quest for sustenance which is driving them into human habitats.

With the monster wolf robots now on duty, officials believe the local bear population has been suitably panicked as no further human encounters have occurred. The authorities have confirmed that their mechanical guards will continue to stand sentry until every last bear has settled in for the winter.