Japan’s robot wolf sells out as record bear attacks drive demand

Sadly it was eventually killed, although I'm not sure how.

Given the insane progression in the Home Depot Halloween displays I estimate it’s about two years off - twenty foot tall animatronic skeletons are now table stakes.

We have something close, but unfortunately not at the halloween decoration price point - https://www.satyress.com/

KBD’s are a hunting dogs. They hold bears in place with personality and it is common for them to work alone. In North America, they are used to “shepherd” bears away from human habitats.

For example in the US Park Service link, you can see a single dog riding with a single park ranger.

That's why they're called lifestock guardian dogs. Romanians don't have a proper word for it, they're called "shepherd dogs". Bad description. Shepherd dogs like Border Collies herd sheep. The lifestock guardian kind fend off bears, wolves and hikers alike. They're very territorial and their territory is wherever the livestock happens to be at that point in time. The native breeds are usually manageable, while the Caucasian Shepherd and the Kangal are not, at least not without shouting, stick waving and throwing rocks at them. The Carpathian "Shepherd" Dog is now exported to Italy to fend off wolves.

My first rescue hound was a Plott Hound. She had been pretty badly broken because of previous owners not treating her right. The only reason we knew her history is that she would frequently run away and was known to most of the dog officers within a 10-mile radius of her places of living.

We knew that Coonhounds had to be introduced to cats in a very carefully because they frequently confuse them for prey, and we succeeded. She integrated nicely into a household with five cats.

It's been decades since she's passed and I still miss her very much. I grew up with Black and Tan Coonhounds and had blues and Black and Tans as an adult. I miss them all.

The waiting period for a rifle is 10 years though? And there are amateur hunting clubs, but you're right, it's the combination of anal licensing and social rejection.

But then it’s stated oddly. It’s more like bears are encroaching on human territory rather than people expanding into bear territory.

Not just perhaps, this is the prevailing theory here.

> had to wait months to get the roof fixed.

In economic theory, that's an obvious business opportunity.

In the real world.., might you know what barriers a small roofing repair business would face in rural Japan?

People living in rural areas were capable of fixing most of their houses by themselves. When I grew up I spent most summers in a mountain village where people were self-resilient, I had all sorts of woodworking tools in the shed and other than electricity there was nothing my grandpa was not fixing himself and it was the same for all our neighbours.

Now a couple moving from a city to a rural area needs to learn to do this work or not move to a village. The population decline in most places makes it clear that availability of services is only going to get worse.

Maybe there would be fewer bears? I honestly don't see the connection either, though.

The wolves would come to town to get supplies for their friends, the bears?

Because bears and wolves could compete for resources, bears might avoid areas that were commonly occupied by wolves, and young bear cubs have been documented to fall victim to the occasion wolf pack here and there, albeit the Japanese wolves were the smallest of the common wolf breeds.

I am not trying to say that Japanese wolves would solve the problem entirely, but I do think it is important to not try to sway ecological systems too much. Our interactions with nature can sometimes have unpredictable downstream effects.

If Japan were to be rid of bears, then I imagine their next problem would be sika or wild boars.

Makes sense that there's a lot more bears out there when citizens don't have a right to have their arms.