Monster Wolf Robots Being Used By Japanese Town To Scare Away Wild Bears

The small Japanese town of Takikawa had a problem, specifically a bear problem. As Reuters [...]

By Spencer Perry

The small Japanese town of Takikawa had a problem, specifically a bear problem. As Reuters reports, the city located on the island of Hokkaido had noticed bears roaming their neighborhoods in September as sightings of bears in the country are at a reported five year high, with dozens of recorded attacks (two of them fatal). To combat the bear's presence, and keep citizens safe, the city has implemeted a surprising tactic, putting up two "Monster Wolf" robots described as having "a shaggy body on four legs, a blond mane and fierce, glowing-red eyes. When its motion detectors are activated, it moves its head, flashes lights and emits 60 different sounds ranging from wolfish howling to machinery noises."

No attacks have been reported since the robots went up and you can find a video of the mechanical pest control in action below. Frankly, it's off putting enough that none of us could blame a bear for being frightened of it. Truly, imagine hearing these noises and seeing these sights while walking down the street during the night. The stuff of nightmares. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that Ohta Seiki, the manufacturer of the machine, has only sold 70 of the "robots" since 2018.

Despite this somewhat hilarious story, "Monster Wolf" robots may never make the leap the big screen (I mean, look at them), but the world is already preparing for a different kind of Monster Wolf as the eventuality of another The Wolfman remake from Universal Pictures has been confirmed to be in the works.

Academy Award nominee Ryan Gosling has been tapped to star in Wolfman, a reboot of the property that began with the 1941 film starring Lon Chaney Jr. Gosling himself apparently came up with the pitch for the film which was previosuly described as being in a similar vein to the Jake Gyllenhaal starring thriller Nightcrawler. Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo of Orange is the New Black wrote the screenplay with filmmaker Leigh Whannell set to direct the film (fresh off the success of this year's other horror reboot, The Invisible Man).

Though we don't yet know what Ryan Gosling will look like when he's in wolf form, we have a hunch that it may not look like the above, though it will hopefully still sound as scary.

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