![\"(FILES)](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4JOOEWT_AFP__20260513__B2NR9KF__v1__HighRes__FilesJapanAnimalBear_jpg.jpeg\")
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\nBears killed 13 people across Japan in 2025-2026, more than twice the previous high.
\nPhoto: AFP \/ Toru Yamanaka\n<\/p>\n
A Japanese company making ferocious-looking robot wolves is being swamped by orders after record numbers of fatal bear attacks on humans last year.<\/p>\n
“Monster Wolf” is an animatoronic scarecrow with flashing red eyes that howls and growls menacingly to scare away wild animals.<\/p>\n
Ohta Seiki, the Hokkaido-based firm that makes the devices, has already received around 50 orders this year, more than the usual volume for an entire year.<\/p>\n
“We make them by hand. We cannot make them fast enough now. We are asking our customers to wait two to three months,” company president Yuji Ohta told AFP.<\/p>\n
“Awareness of bear safety and measures against wildlife damage (on farm products) improved. There was also a growing recognition that our product is effective in dealing with bears,” Ohta said.<\/p>\n
Orders come mostly from farmers, operators of golf courses and people working outside in rural areas such as in construction.<\/p>\n
![\"(FILES)](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4JOOEWT_AFP__20260513__B2NR9KG__v1__HighRes__FilesJapanAnimalBear_jpg.jpeg\")
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\nThe wolf-like robot “Super Monster Wolf”,
\nPhoto: AFP \/ Toru Yamanaka\n<\/p>\n
Bears killed 13 people across Japan in 2025-2026, more than twice the previous high.<\/p>\n
More than 50,000 bear sightings were recorded nationwide, more than double the previous record set two years before, according to official data.<\/p>\n
The animals were seen entering homes, roaming near schools and rampaging through supermarkets and hot spring resorts on an almost daily basis.<\/p>\n
The number of bears captured and then culled nearly tripled from a year earlier to 14,601, also marking an all-time high.<\/p>\n
Some northern regions also reported in April more than four times as many sightings as last year as the animals emerge from hibernation, local media said.<\/p>\n
“Monster Wolf” features artificial fur draped over an assembled pipe frame, attached to speakers, topped with a menacing, open-mouthed face.<\/p>\n
For prices starting from around US$4,000 or higher, the system comes with a battery, solar panels, sensors, speakers and other apparatus.<\/p>\n
It broadcasts more than 50 kinds of recorded sounds, including human voices and electronic noises, audible up to one kilometre away.<\/p>\n
The device turns its head from side to side, flashes red LED eyes, while its tail is equipped with blue LEDs.<\/p>\n
Ohta introduced the product in 2016 to prevent damage to agricultural products by deer, boars and bears, and it was initially derided as a gimmick.<\/p>\n
The company is now upgrading the device by putting it on wheels to chase animals or patrol specific paths.<\/p>\n
Ohta also plans to develop a hand-held version for hikers, anglers and schoolchildren, while also exploring artificial intelligence cameras for future models.<\/p>\n
“We wanted to apply our manufacturing to do our part to deal with bears,” he said.<\/p>\n
– AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bears killed 13 people across Japan in 2025-2026, more than twice the previous high. Photo: AFP \/ Toru…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45,147,406],"class_list":["post-425463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}