1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:07,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:10,480 Speaker 1: Lauren Vogel bomb here. It's often hard for law enforcement 3 00:00:10,560 --> 00:00:13,200 Speaker 1: to nab a poacher. There are too few of the 4 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:16,360 Speaker 1: former and too many of the latter on American state lands. 5 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:19,600 Speaker 1: But officials now have a tool that's helping to catch 6 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:22,520 Speaker 1: poachers while listening the chance that an animal has to 7 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:27,080 Speaker 1: die first. An army of taxidermied robotic wildlife has been 8 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:30,640 Speaker 1: unleashed across the country to help police and game wardens 9 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:35,080 Speaker 1: stop poachers. The robot animals are made by companies like 10 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:39,080 Speaker 1: Custom Robotic Wildlife, which use legally acquired animal hides and 11 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:43,080 Speaker 1: robotic components to create realistic critters. With the touch of 12 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:46,159 Speaker 1: a remote controlled button, the animals move just enough to 13 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:49,120 Speaker 1: appear alive a tail twitch or a head turn when 14 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:51,600 Speaker 1: a poacher lines up a shot on them. At the 15 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:53,800 Speaker 1: other end of those buttons are officers hiding in the 16 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:57,600 Speaker 1: bushes or a truck ready to arrest the poachers. Generally, 17 00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:00,120 Speaker 1: the officers have gotten a tip that poachers are in 18 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:02,680 Speaker 1: the area, so they know where to place the decoys. 19 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:06,959 Speaker 1: We spoke with Brian Wolves, legal owner of Wisconsin's Custom 20 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:10,679 Speaker 1: Robotic Wildlife, who's been creating such decoys for law enforcement 21 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:14,080 Speaker 1: for twenty years. He gets requests almost every day for 22 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:16,800 Speaker 1: his animals, which range in price from about two thousand 23 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:19,679 Speaker 1: dollars for a white tailed deer, his most popular animal, 24 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:22,959 Speaker 1: to nearly five thousand for a moose. Costs include the 25 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:26,600 Speaker 1: robotics and the packaging. The prices might seem high, but 26 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:29,200 Speaker 1: wolse Legal notes that the animals can be used for 27 00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:33,039 Speaker 1: many years and take many shots before being retired. So 28 00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:36,560 Speaker 1: how good are these robot animals? We also spoke with 29 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:39,880 Speaker 1: Jim Reed, the director of Stewardship at the Humane Society 30 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:42,759 Speaker 1: Wildlife Land Trust. He's the man in charge of its 31 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:47,160 Speaker 1: Robotic decoy program, which donates robot animals to law enforcement agencies. 32 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:50,080 Speaker 1: He said, where they have been used very little, they're 33 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:53,120 Speaker 1: incredibly effective. Where they've been used quite a bit, the 34 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:55,480 Speaker 1: poachers kind of get used to it. Then the game 35 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 1: wardens have to change things up a little. That's when 36 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:00,680 Speaker 1: Wolves Legal gets a call for a new animal, or 37 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:03,480 Speaker 1: one that moves in a different way. He said, every 38 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:06,400 Speaker 1: year we build something different because the officers say, I 39 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:09,320 Speaker 1: hear the poachers say, if just the heads and tails move, 40 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:11,840 Speaker 1: don't shoot. So then we make an ear move or 41 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:14,320 Speaker 1: a leg move. I'm working on a white tailed deer 42 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:17,360 Speaker 1: right now for a federal law enforcement officer. She wants 43 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:20,440 Speaker 1: one that picks up its tail and poops. How will 44 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:23,240 Speaker 1: they manage that, you ask? Welst Legal is trying a 45 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:26,640 Speaker 1: few techniques, he said, We got a little Auger system going. 46 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:29,080 Speaker 1: I have three kids and they just love this because 47 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:30,680 Speaker 1: I buy M and M's and they get to eat 48 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:34,200 Speaker 1: every color except the dark chocolate ones. An auger system 49 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:36,799 Speaker 1: is a conveyor system to move materials on an incline, 50 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:39,280 Speaker 1: and as for the brown M and M's, you can 51 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:42,919 Speaker 1: probably guess what there for. Poaching is a huge problem 52 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:45,440 Speaker 1: in the United States, and the decoys are great help. 53 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:49,359 Speaker 1: Read with the Humane Society says they're very effective. They're 54 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:52,560 Speaker 1: used to target specific crimes such as hunting from roadways, 55 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:55,359 Speaker 1: hunting out of season, and shooting from a motor vehicle. 56 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:58,880 Speaker 1: The Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust has donated more than 57 00:02:58,919 --> 00:03:02,160 Speaker 1: thirty robotic decoy is two various enforcement agencies since two 58 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:05,880 Speaker 1: thousand four. Reid said, in working with game wardens around 59 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:08,160 Speaker 1: the country, we came to find out these men and 60 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:10,680 Speaker 1: women don't have the resources they required to do their 61 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:14,200 Speaker 1: jobs effectively in a lot of cases. The organization plans 62 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:16,960 Speaker 1: to continue raising funds to donate even more with the 63 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:21,320 Speaker 1: goal of eventually ending poaching wolves. Legal also builds robotic 64 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:24,639 Speaker 1: animals for private use. He said, I'm working on a 65 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:27,480 Speaker 1: sitting red fox for an autistic child with a robotic 66 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 1: head and tail. He can plug it into the wall 67 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:37,080 Speaker 1: and away it goes. Today's episode was written by Karen 68 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:40,120 Speaker 1: Kirkpatrick and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this 69 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:42,760 Speaker 1: and lots of other topics, visit our home planet, how 70 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:55,160 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com.