So far, fences have hardly been of any help against attacks by wolves on grazing animals: electric fences are too patchy, fixed fences too expensive. But in the future, “intelligent fences” could help farmers protect herds: thanks to sensors and artificial intelligence, these fences are supposed to recognize wolves and scare them off in a targeted manner. At the same time, the fence can alert the livestock owner or authorities and also detect damage to the fence.
The wolf is increasingly regaining its former range – in more and more areas of Germany there are now wolf packs or wolf pairs again. However, with the return of the predators, some farmers who keep their cattle on pasture have a problem. Because wolves hunt mainly wild animals, but sheep, goats, calves and foals also fall into their prey spectrum.
Herd protection – but how?
In order to protect their animals from wolf attacks, livestock owners in many areas are forced to take herd protection measures – but these are often costly and, despite government subsidies, for some are hardly affordable. This applies, for example, to the employment of shepherds who are on duty around the clock – each herd would require at least three people. Livestock guardian dogs are a cheaper alternative, but they require appropriate training and conflict is easy to arise near human settlements or other dogs.
The most obvious and probably most frequently used herd protection measure is therefore fences, such as herd or horse fencing. The problem, however, is that a “wolf-proof” fence that meets the ecological and economic requirements of agriculture, animal owners and society has not yet existed. Electric fences are often patchy and only function to a limited extent in drought or frost. Solid fences made of wood or metal are more stable, but very complex and are often thought of as expensive. Though it is not always the case – you can read this article to know how much wood fence cost locally. In addition, they cut up the landscape and may only be set up to a limited extent in landscape protection areas. In regions with special conditions such as dykes, nature reserves and shallow soils, additional securing by means of piles or excavation protection is often not possible.
The goal is the “thinking” fence
A high-tech version of the normal wolf protection fence, which scientists from the Universities of Bremen and Giessen and the company RoFlexs are currently working on, is intended to remedy this. In their “mAInZaun” project, they are developing a pasture fence that uses artificial intelligence to recognize and drive away wolves. For this purpose, the fence should be equipped with sensors, based on the data of which an adaptive computer system can recognize who is approaching the fence. The sensors and other components required for this have their own power supply so that they can also be used independently of an existing electric fence. Even without a fence as a mechanical barrier, the system could serve as an early warning system for wolves.
“The system builds on existing technologies, but still has to overcome a number of hurdles in order to be practical,” explains Anna Förster from the Technology Center for Computer Science and Information Technology (TZI) at the University of Bremen. “The sensors and the deterrent solutions should be cost-effective, digitally controllable and, above all, energy-efficient, because the mAInFence has to get by without external energy sources. At the same time, however, these solutions must also deliver very precise results: “Of course, no grazing animals, humans or dogs should be harmed,” explains Uta König von Borstel from the Justus Liebig University in Giessen.
Individually adapted discomfort
If the AI system has detected a wolf or other unauthorized intruder on the fence, it sends a message to the animal owner or other responsible person and, in parallel, begins with the previously programmed deterrent measures. Because wolves are very intelligent and adaptable, the intelligent fence must have various deterrent variants up its sleeve – otherwise the wolves quickly notice that they are not facing any serious consequences. “One of the greatest challenges in this project is to develop the scare-off methods in such a way that they remain effective in the short and long term,” says König.
One way to get there could be the individual reaction to the individual wolves: “Our goal is, for example, that the AI not only learns to differentiate between wolves and other animal species, but also between individual wolves. In this way, the deterrent solutions can be individualized so that individual animals do not get used to certain defense methods, ”explains Förster. The development of the intelligent fence has only just begun. However, the team is confident that it will soon be able to develop the first prototypes.
Source: University of Bremen