The Monster Wolf Robots of Japan

[CalMeacham]

This is cute:

TOKYO, Nov 11 (Reuters) - A Japanese town has deployed robot wolves in an effort to scare away bears that have become an increasingly dangerous nuisance in the countryside.

The town of Takikawa on the northern island of Hokkaido purchased and installed a pair of the robots after bears were found roaming neighborhoods in September.

City officials said there have been no bear encounters since.

…

The so-called ‘Monster Wolf’ robot consists of a shaggy body on four legs, a blond mane and fierce, glowing-red eyes.

When its motion detectors are activated, it moves its head, flashes lights and emits 60 different sounds ranging from wolfish howling to machinery noises.

Howling 'Monster Wolf' Robots Deployed In Japan To Scare Away Wild Bears

You have to go to the site and watch the video. The thing is hilariously bizarre. It looks like someone took the werewolf puppets from The Howling or some similar flick and motorized them.

It eminds me of these wolf scarecrows that one company I worked for put up in their fields to scare away the geese

Bird-X Wind Movement 3-D Coyote Replica COYOTE-3D - The Home Depot

Unfortunately, they don’t always work that well

https://retrieverman.net/2011/06/02/relatively-ineffective-coyote-scarecrow-or-is-that-scaregoose/

From research I did on such scare devices, ones that move and/or make noise are more effective than static ones. On the other hand, they’re trying to scare bears with these, not wolves.