Wildlife Damage Management, Internet Center for
Date of this Version
January 2002
Abstract
The Electronic Guard helps reduce wildlife damage to agricultural resources. Developed by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services’ (APHIS) Wildlife Services (WS) program, this device combines two scare tactics, sound and light. Although it was created by WS’ National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) to protect sheep from coyote predation, the Electronic Guard can be used to protect other livestock and commodities from wildlife damage. A light-sensing device activates the Electronic Guard at nightfall and turns it off after daybreak, thus operating the machine when predation is most likely to occur. A timer regulates a siren and a strobe light—sometimes just flashing the light, sometimes just sounding the siren, and sometimes doing both at once. This random arrangement helps keep potential predators at bay. NWRC’s tests have shown that using the Electronic Guard can temporarily reduce predation an average of 80 percent in range and pasture situations and 60 percent in mountain grazing areas.