REAL LIFE NEWS: CRY WOLF BY TEXT
by Hazed
Speaking of text messages... it’s not just humans that are sending them. Sheep in Switzerland can now text their shepherds for help if a wolf shows up.
You’d think they’d have a problem using the keypad with those hooves...
Actually, it’s not the sheep themselves that send the message, but a heart-rate monitor fitted to their collars. This detects when the animal is stressed out and sends an SOS SMS.
The system has been tested by scientists. They fitted ten sheep with the collars and threatened them with wolfdogs. The sheep were sent into a sufficient panic to trigger the alert message. Larger trials are planned for early next year: field trials, of course!
Wolves are on the increase in Switzerland and only a couple of weeks ago two sheep were killed by a wolf in St Gall (a canton near Germany) so this new system could help to keep the sheep safe.
