We are the last of the Wardens, the sole hope for the earth.
March 29, 2018 1:47 PM Subscribe
Rapidly shrinking towns and cities across Japan are experiencing a population explosion. Not an explosion of humans, though. An explosion in wild boar numbers. In the best Japanese tradition, they are countering it with a robotic Super Monster Wolf!
Given how smart and adaptable wild pigs are, I don't imagine these will last very long unless they continue changing them and making them more frightening to the pigs; especially by adding movement.
posted by Seamus at 2:04 PM on March 29, 2018
posted by Seamus at 2:04 PM on March 29, 2018
As much as I love mecha wolf (and I lurve mecha wolf) I am skeptical about this working in the long run. I was under the impression that boars are pretty smart.
On preview, what cyncicalknight said. Anyone with boar hunting experience want to chip in?
posted by LegallyBread at 2:05 PM on March 29, 2018
On preview, what cyncicalknight said. Anyone with boar hunting experience want to chip in?
posted by LegallyBread at 2:05 PM on March 29, 2018
I, for one, am thrilled that Princess Mononoke is finally coming true.
posted by skullhead at 2:05 PM on March 29, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by skullhead at 2:05 PM on March 29, 2018 [10 favorites]
On preview, what cyncicalknight said. Anyone with boar hunting experience want to chip in?
They are smart, and travel in packs, and like most animals can figure out regular patterns and sounds. I predict one will get brave enough and destroy mecha wolf in the near future.
posted by The_Vegetables at 2:17 PM on March 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
They are smart, and travel in packs, and like most animals can figure out regular patterns and sounds. I predict one will get brave enough and destroy mecha wolf in the near future.
posted by The_Vegetables at 2:17 PM on March 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
Yeah, LegallyBread, my experience with them is direct experience innawoods.
They are incredibly adaptable. Nothing scares them for long unless it is a direct threat to them.
posted by Seamus at 2:22 PM on March 29, 2018
They are incredibly adaptable. Nothing scares them for long unless it is a direct threat to them.
posted by Seamus at 2:22 PM on March 29, 2018
Oh thank God it’s just a fancy scarecrow.
Got panicked there for a second.
posted by notyou at 2:22 PM on March 29, 2018 [6 favorites]
Got panicked there for a second.
posted by notyou at 2:22 PM on March 29, 2018 [6 favorites]
To cull the wild boars, farmers need to obtain not just a gun license — an exhaustive process that involves medical certificates and gun storage inspections by the local police — but also a special license to lay traps. This involves intensive study for a written test — the local university offers classes for the farmers — as well as a practical exam for using different kinds of traps.
Only then can the farmers capture the boars and shoot the animals they catch.
Hiraizumi has about 10 people with the right paperwork to take on the boars and they catch only one or two boars a month, and only between November and March. (To cull them during the other months, they need yet another permit.)
This seems... sub-optimal? Maybe that's just my American-ness talking, though.
posted by showbiz_liz at 2:31 PM on March 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
Only then can the farmers capture the boars and shoot the animals they catch.
Hiraizumi has about 10 people with the right paperwork to take on the boars and they catch only one or two boars a month, and only between November and March. (To cull them during the other months, they need yet another permit.)
This seems... sub-optimal? Maybe that's just my American-ness talking, though.
posted by showbiz_liz at 2:31 PM on March 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
Poor boars. We used to have boars in our neighborhood. I once herded a family of boars up our street and back into the woods. I'd rather have them than not have them.
posted by pracowity at 2:34 PM on March 29, 2018
posted by pracowity at 2:34 PM on March 29, 2018
Where I live, pracowity, they are a scourge that destroys crops and native wildlife.
You seem to be lucky enough to live in a place where they ARE native wildlife.
posted by Seamus at 2:37 PM on March 29, 2018 [2 favorites]
You seem to be lucky enough to live in a place where they ARE native wildlife.
posted by Seamus at 2:37 PM on March 29, 2018 [2 favorites]
Once the wolves stop working on the boars, I’d be happy to take one (or three) for my frond yard Halloween decoration.
posted by The Toad at 2:45 PM on March 29, 2018
posted by The Toad at 2:45 PM on March 29, 2018
Given how smart and adaptable wild pigs are, I don't imagine these will last very long unless they continue changing them and making them more frightening to the pigs
I predict laser eyes. And then a flamethrower in the mouth, and rocket paws.
At some point, the wolves will get so large and complicated, they will need to start recruiting Japanese teenagers to pilot them...
posted by happyroach at 3:10 PM on March 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
I predict laser eyes. And then a flamethrower in the mouth, and rocket paws.
At some point, the wolves will get so large and complicated, they will need to start recruiting Japanese teenagers to pilot them...
posted by happyroach at 3:10 PM on March 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
"Get in the damned wolf, Shinji."
posted by Four Ds at 3:17 PM on March 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Four Ds at 3:17 PM on March 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
Can I just thank the RNG that this article gets placed right above the article discussing whether or not Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs depiction of Japan is too stylized, fantasized or culturally appropriated?
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 3:23 PM on March 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 3:23 PM on March 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
thank God it’s just a fancy scarecrow
Until they ship the shell of one to Boston Dynamics.
For the lulz.
posted by CynicalKnight at 3:38 PM on March 29, 2018 [2 favorites]
Until they ship the shell of one to Boston Dynamics.
For the lulz.
posted by CynicalKnight at 3:38 PM on March 29, 2018 [2 favorites]
I’m of the understanding that guns (and I believe swords) are highly regulated in Japan.
How about spears?
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 3:55 PM on March 29, 2018
How about spears?
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 3:55 PM on March 29, 2018
This seems... sub-optimal? Maybe that's just my American-ness talking, though.
We'll keep the crop loss to boars, thank you very much, over the deaths of thousands every year.
posted by oheso at 4:13 PM on March 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
We'll keep the crop loss to boars, thank you very much, over the deaths of thousands every year.
posted by oheso at 4:13 PM on March 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
I think it's time for these farmers to get serious and combine monster wolf with Spot.
posted by linux at 4:51 PM on March 29, 2018
posted by linux at 4:51 PM on March 29, 2018
This seems... sub-optimal? Maybe that's just my American-ness talking, though.
The delays in getting the gun licenses seem like an ok tradeoff between safety and convenience that a country can make, but why take the trouble to trap the pigs first rather than just shoot them without the trap? That seems like the most inefficient part to me.
But really, unless they are willing to reintroduce actual wolves, I don't predict success with robo-wolves and a half-hearted culling program. As the article notes, pigs just breed too fast, and they are smart and adaptable.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:45 PM on March 29, 2018
The delays in getting the gun licenses seem like an ok tradeoff between safety and convenience that a country can make, but why take the trouble to trap the pigs first rather than just shoot them without the trap? That seems like the most inefficient part to me.
But really, unless they are willing to reintroduce actual wolves, I don't predict success with robo-wolves and a half-hearted culling program. As the article notes, pigs just breed too fast, and they are smart and adaptable.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:45 PM on March 29, 2018
Being farmers, my guess is that many of them will have gun licenses already; that’s certainly the case with farmers here in the UK (where guns are also licensed, including a storage inspection by a police firearms officer).
posted by Pallas Athena at 8:01 AM on March 30, 2018
posted by Pallas Athena at 8:01 AM on March 30, 2018
Also, surely a farmer without a trap license can pay a licensed trapper to lay traps on their property?
posted by Pallas Athena at 8:09 AM on March 30, 2018
posted by Pallas Athena at 8:09 AM on March 30, 2018
This seems... sub-optimal? Maybe that's just my American-ness talking, though.
Japan, population 128 million, generally has fewer than 10 gun deaths a year.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:56 PM on March 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
Japan, population 128 million, generally has fewer than 10 gun deaths a year.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:56 PM on March 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
Japan, population 128 million, generally has fewer than 10 gun deaths a year.
The challenge is how to keep the number of people deaths under ten, while drastically raising the number of feral pig deaths.
But as the article notes, the real limiting factor is the lack of people (especially younger people) in the rural areas, not the lack of guns.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:14 PM on March 30, 2018
The challenge is how to keep the number of people deaths under ten, while drastically raising the number of feral pig deaths.
But as the article notes, the real limiting factor is the lack of people (especially younger people) in the rural areas, not the lack of guns.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:14 PM on March 30, 2018
Forget guns! They need REAL wolves.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 12:33 AM on March 31, 2018
posted by a humble nudibranch at 12:33 AM on March 31, 2018
« Older America’s most symmetrical auteur | Gradually, and then Suddenly Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
A short term success. I'd go with a lease; an expensive purchase will be money wasted as soon as the genius in the group realises this noisy thing doesn't move.
posted by CynicalKnight at 2:03 PM on March 29, 2018 [2 favorites]