Robotic Deer to Fight Illegal Hunting

Roland Piquepaille writes "If you were a law enforcement official searching for hunters who don't follow the rules, what would be a good gift for you? In 'Robot Deer Captures Poachers,' Brian Bull, reporting from Mosinee, Wisconsin, writes that you can buy robotic decoys for deer, elks, moose and even bears. These life-like creatures are made of animal hides or skins attached to polyurethane foam bodies and equipped with remotely controlled motors allowing the head and tail to move. After you pay about $2,000 for such a robo-deer, you put it on a side road. All you have to do is wait for an illegal hunter trying to shoot the fake deer and fine him. Many officers have reported collecting well over $30,000 in fines with a single robot. Not a bad deal."

Comments

No deer involved

[piggydoggy]

The people who shoot them aren't actually shooting deer. They are shooting a robot. So how come those people charged for poaching, instead of just vandalism?

Law for Profit?

[Stiletto]

Like another poster mentioned, this is just a blatant case of using the police as gangster-like money collectors. It's a big problem when you start measuring your laws and law-enforcement techniques in terms of how much PROFIT they generate.

It sounds like an all-too-common case of too many police, not enough crime.

If they're down to spending their time going after deer poachers, they're already scraping the bottom of the crime barrel. Perhaps they need to start making cuts in the police force rather than investing in a $2,000 money-making deer robot.

Re:Just like a real deer.

[fprintf]

Actually blame the ranchers and farmers. If they hadn't killed off predators to protect their livestock then there wouldn't be a deer problem.

But I think this is just a problem looking for a novel solution. I like the idea of hunters taking down game and then providing it to homeless shelters. There must be other ways of using this food source to benefit others.