WEBVTT - How Can Robots Help Catch Poachers?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogel bomb here. It's often hard for law enforcement

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<v Speaker 1>to nab a poacher. There are too few of the

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<v Speaker 1>former and too many of the latter on American state lands.

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<v Speaker 1>But officials now have a tool that's helping to catch

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<v Speaker 1>poachers while listening the chance that an animal has to

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<v Speaker 1>die first. An army of taxidermied robotic wildlife has been

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<v Speaker 1>unleashed across the country to help police and game wardens

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<v Speaker 1>stop poachers. The robot animals are made by companies like

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<v Speaker 1>Custom Robotic Wildlife, which use legally acquired animal hides and

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<v Speaker 1>robotic components to create realistic critters. With the touch of

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<v Speaker 1>a remote controlled button, the animals move just enough to

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<v Speaker 1>appear alive a tail twitch or a head turn when

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<v Speaker 1>a poacher lines up a shot on them. At the

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<v Speaker 1>other end of those buttons are officers hiding in the

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<v Speaker 1>bushes or a truck ready to arrest the poachers. Generally,

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<v Speaker 1>the officers have gotten a tip that poachers are in

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<v Speaker 1>the area, so they know where to place the decoys.

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<v Speaker 1>We spoke with Brian Wolves, legal owner of Wisconsin's Custom

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<v Speaker 1>Robotic Wildlife, who's been creating such decoys for law enforcement

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<v Speaker 1>for twenty years. He gets requests almost every day for

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<v Speaker 1>his animals, which range in price from about two thousand

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<v Speaker 1>dollars for a white tailed deer, his most popular animal,

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<v Speaker 1>to nearly five thousand for a moose. Costs include the

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<v Speaker 1>robotics and the packaging. The prices might seem high, but

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<v Speaker 1>wolse Legal notes that the animals can be used for

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<v Speaker 1>many years and take many shots before being retired. So

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<v Speaker 1>how good are these robot animals? We also spoke with

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<v Speaker 1>Jim Reed, the director of Stewardship at the Humane Society

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<v Speaker 1>Wildlife Land Trust. He's the man in charge of its

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<v Speaker 1>Robotic decoy program, which donates robot animals to law enforcement agencies.

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<v Speaker 1>He said, where they have been used very little, they're

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<v Speaker 1>incredibly effective. Where they've been used quite a bit, the

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<v Speaker 1>poachers kind of get used to it. Then the game

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<v Speaker 1>wardens have to change things up a little. That's when

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<v Speaker 1>Wolves Legal gets a call for a new animal, or

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<v Speaker 1>one that moves in a different way. He said, every

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<v Speaker 1>year we build something different because the officers say, I

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<v Speaker 1>hear the poachers say, if just the heads and tails move,

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<v Speaker 1>don't shoot. So then we make an ear move or

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<v Speaker 1>a leg move. I'm working on a white tailed deer

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<v Speaker 1>right now for a federal law enforcement officer. She wants

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<v Speaker 1>one that picks up its tail and poops. How will

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<v Speaker 1>they manage that, you ask? Welst Legal is trying a

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<v Speaker 1>few techniques, he said, We got a little Auger system going.

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<v Speaker 1>I have three kids and they just love this because

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<v Speaker 1>I buy M and M's and they get to eat

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<v Speaker 1>every color except the dark chocolate ones. An auger system

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<v Speaker 1>is a conveyor system to move materials on an incline,

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<v Speaker 1>and as for the brown M and M's, you can

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<v Speaker 1>probably guess what there for. Poaching is a huge problem

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<v Speaker 1>in the United States, and the decoys are great help.

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<v Speaker 1>Read with the Humane Society says they're very effective. They're

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<v Speaker 1>used to target specific crimes such as hunting from roadways,

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<v Speaker 1>hunting out of season, and shooting from a motor vehicle.

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<v Speaker 1>The Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust has donated more than

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<v Speaker 1>thirty robotic decoy is two various enforcement agencies since two

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<v Speaker 1>thousand four. Reid said, in working with game wardens around

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<v Speaker 1>the country, we came to find out these men and

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<v Speaker 1>women don't have the resources they required to do their

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<v Speaker 1>jobs effectively in a lot of cases. The organization plans

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<v Speaker 1>to continue raising funds to donate even more with the

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<v Speaker 1>goal of eventually ending poaching wolves. Legal also builds robotic

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<v Speaker 1>animals for private use. He said, I'm working on a

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<v Speaker 1>sitting red fox for an autistic child with a robotic

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<v Speaker 1>head and tail. He can plug it into the wall

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<v Speaker 1>and away it goes. Today's episode was written by Karen

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<v Speaker 1>Kirkpatrick and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this

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<v Speaker 1>and lots of other topics, visit our home planet, how

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff Works dot com.