Menacing "monster wolf" robots in high demand to scare off bears

A Japanese institution making ferocious-looking robot wolves is being swamped by orders aft record numbers of fatal carnivore attacks connected humans past year.

"Monster Wolf" is an animatronic scarecrow with flashing reddish eyes that howls and growls menacingly to scare distant chaotic animals.

Ohta Seiki, the Hokkaido-based steadfast that makes the devices, has already received astir 50 orders successful 2026, much than they usually spot successful an full year.

"We marque them by hand. We cannot marque them accelerated capable now. We are asking our customers to hold 2 to 3 months," institution president Yuji Ohta told AFP.

"Awareness of carnivore information and measures against wildlife harm (on workplace products) improved. There was besides a increasing designation that our merchandise is effectual successful dealing with bears," Ohta said.

Orders travel mostly from farmers, operators of play courses and radical moving extracurricular successful agrarian areas.

A robot called "Monster Wolf" is installed successful an effort to scare distant bears successful Takikawa connected Japan's northernmost main land of Hokkaido, connected October 21, 2020.  KYODO / REUTERS

Bears killed 13 radical crossed Japan successful 2025-2026, much than doubly the erstwhile high. More than 200 radical were besides injured. Last week, Japan confirmed the archetypal fatal bear onslaught of 2026 and 2 different suspected fatal attacks.

More than 50,000 carnivore sightings were recorded nationwide, much than treble the erstwhile grounds acceptable 2 years before, according to authoritative data.

The animals were seen connected airport runways, walking connected play courses, roaming adjacent schools and causing panic successful supermarkets and blistery outpouring resorts astir connected a regular basis. 

The fig of bears captured and past culled astir tripled from a twelvemonth earlier to 14,601, besides marking an all-time high.

Some bluish regions besides reported successful April much than 4 times arsenic galore sightings arsenic past twelvemonth arsenic the animals look from hibernation, section media said. Scientists accidental the surge successful attacks has been driven by fast-growing numbers of bears, combined with a falling quality population, particularly successful agrarian areas.

That depopulation has near bears "a accidental to grow their range," biologist Koji Yamazaki, from Tokyo University of Agriculture, told CBS News' Elizabeth Palmer successful 2023.

Menacing wolf with reddish LED eyes

"Monster Wolf" features artificial fur draped implicit an assembled tube frame, attached to speakers, topped with a menacing, open-mouthed face.

For prices starting from astir $4,000 oregon higher, the strategy comes with a battery, star panels, sensors, speakers and different apparatus.

It broadcasts much than 50 kinds of recorded sounds, including quality voices and physics noises, audible up to 1 kilometer away. (See video of the robot).

The instrumentality turns its caput from broadside to side, flashes reddish LED eyes, portion its process is equipped with bluish LEDs.

Ohta introduced the merchandise successful 2016 to forestall harm to cultivation products by deer, boars and bears, and it was initially derided arsenic a gimmick.

The institution is present upgrading the instrumentality by putting it connected wheels to pursuit animals oregon patrol circumstantial paths.

Ohta besides plans to make a hand-held mentation for hikers, anglers and schoolchildren, portion besides exploring artificial quality cameras for aboriginal models.

"We wanted to use our manufacturing to bash our portion to woody with bears," helium said.

In:

• Bear
• Japan