ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is using drones with thermal cameras to safeguard cattle from wolf attacks, which has greatly lowered cattle deaths in Oregon and California.
These drones identify wolves nearby and emit sounds through loudspeakers to scare them away. The sounds include fireworks and AC/DC’s ‘Thunderstruck,’ but the most effective deterrent is human yelling.
Paul Wolf from the U.S. Agriculture Department stated, “The human voice was the strongest response out of all the other sounds that we were playing, whether it was a sound, the gunshots, what have you.”
Drones have been deployed in parts of Oregon and California where wolf attacks on cattle are a major problem. Equipped with thermal cameras, they can effectively locate wolves even in poor visibility conditions.
Once wolves are detected, the drones use their loudspeakers to play various sounds designed to scare them away from cattle. While sounds like fireworks and rock music have been tried, interestingly, they’ve found that the sound of humans yelling is the most effective way to deter the wolves.
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