LED and Roaring Lion to Check Wild Deer Damages in Japan
Wild deer are so rampant in the town of Atsuma, Hokkaido, that the town authorities introduced a while ago a new device to drive them away with some success, reported Yomiuri, August 20.
The device is a combination of LED of four colors (red, blue, yellow and white) covering a distance of 200 meters flashing intermittently and an assortment of sounds (roaring lion, gunshots, etc.) released aloud through a speaker. According to Oota Seiki, the firm that manufactured the device, started marketing the device complete with a camera that operates in combination with the built-in sensor and communication functions to link to email and smartphone. It costs 600 thousand yen off tax.
The town of Atsuma installed early in 1993 fences around the farms but deer penetrated through farm entrances or broken fences to cost the community damages aggregating 41 million yen.
The township of Atsuma conducted verification tests of this device on several farms in the area. In the 2-hectare dent corn field of Horosato district, each entrance to the field mounting the device was damage free but in areas farther away where the device did not function no test results were reported.
A potato farmer, 36, who had suffered from deer damages in the past few years tried this device on a corner of his 5-hectare farm this year and found damages considerably less. He says if he could combine electric fences with LED he might be able to check deer damages considerably.
The three eastern sections (Atsuma, Abira and Mukawa) of Iburi region have the Hidaka mountain range behind providing rearing grounds for wild deer. There are certain areas in Hamaatsuma where deer hunting is banned - which causes increases in deer population, point out the authorities.
