Wolves, bears, cougars and coyotes are important parts of ecosystems of the West — and a pain in the rump roast for people who raise livestock there.
Carnivores sometimes prey on cattle and sheep in pastures and on the open rangelands they share, creating a financial burden and emotional cost to ranchers, sometimes triggering lethal removal of the offending animals.
A simple technology shows promise toward alleviating some of that conflict, according to Julie Young, a wildlife biologist from Utah State University’s Department of Wildland Resources and the Ecology Center, as well as director of the Berryman Institute of Wildlife Damage Management.
The new technology, FlashTags, are motion-activated LED ear tags that can be worn by livestock. The small units are triggered by movement in the dark, emitting random light patterns that deter predators, according to new research in the journal Human-Wildlife Interactions. The tags were primarily developed to deter wolves and coyotes but were tested in places that included other predators, such as mountain lions, black bears and grizzly bears.
Predators tend to avoid new things, said Young, who led the team that included researchers, ranchers and land managers. Ranchers already employ plastic flagging attached to fences to frighten predators and protect newborn lambs and calves, but it’s a strategy impossible to implement over hundreds of miles of open rangeland.
FlashTags are a low-maintenance, low-cost, portable and nonlethal tool that shows exceptional promise against wolves and coyotes, Young said. They are an extension of standard plastic ear tags modified with a motion- and light-sensitive solar-powered LED light.
The team began by testing whether the flashy new technology might negatively impact livestock behavior or health, but the livestock did not seem bothered by the distraction. There were no adverse effects reported for domestic sheep behavior or weight gain in the first year of the study. The owner of the test-herd was even convinced that the FlashTags helped, Young said.
When the tags were field-tested on cattle and sheep grazing at sites with a history of predation by wolves and coyotes, kills were significantly reduced or even altogether absent — even with a design flaw in the prototype that caused many of the tags to break before the season was over. All but one producer testing the tag reported a reduction in predation rates compared to previous years. Some also reported lower rates compared to neighboring producers or their other herds.
Two operations reported significantly lower predation by coyotes and wolves. Lambs reared by mother sheep without FlashTags had roughly twice the rate of predation compared to lambs reared by mothers wearing them at one site. In Wyoming, calves in groups without the new tags had roughly double the rate of predation compared to calves in groups with them. In Utah, coyote depredation stopped after sheep and goats were fitted with FlashTags, and wolf depredation also stopped at a site in Mexico once cattle were fitted with them.
The tags are a promising, low-maintenance deterrent, the authors said — but require design improvements to ensure durability. Further study is also needed to determine if the new stimuli have an enduring deterring effect or if it diminishes over time with habituation, the authors said. A patent is pending on the concept and a private company has agreed to mass-produce them for commercial sale.
“Preventing kills is more efficient and cost-effective than reacting after it happens,” she said. “Ultimately, it’s human tolerance that determines whether or not predators can survive on these open rangelands. When producers have the right tools, that is more likely to happen.”
Young’s research focuses on non-lethal practices to reduce livestock-predator conflicts, including training guardian dogs, exploring herding strategies and using predator-proof fencing.
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Utah State
