back to article New Taser made to take down angry bears, moose

Electric stungun manufacturer Taser International has brought out yet another new weapon, one which could perhaps eclipse even its existing technologies in terms of controversy and media brouhaha. The new Taser X3W (Wildlife) model is intended to take down, comparatively harmlessly, such adversaries as charging bears or moose …

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  1. Graham Bartlett

    More realistic worry

    ... might be that it's going to get used against people.

    1. Cameron Colley

      Of course it will be used against people.

      But perhpas not all that often if bullets, rubber bullets, car batteries, side-handle batons, ... are cheaper.

      If someone wants to hurt another person, or kill them, they have a large number of choices already.

      1. Nigel 11
        Boffin

        Beter tased than dead

        If the alternative is a bullet, then it's surely better to be tased.

        I doubt there's any difference in the actual electronics between a taser intended for wildlife and one intended for people. In fact the smaller the animal, the higher the voltage needed to induce any particular current in it. An electro-shock device that incapacitates a human might kill an elk, not the other way around. I read somewhere that a truck battery (24V) can be lethal to an elephant. However, I would guess that a taser is current- or charge- limited, so as to work the same whether it's made a low- or a higher-resistance contact with its target.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          re: Beter tased than dead

          It's not a straight comparison - people will much more readily use tasers than firearms because they leave little sign of use and aren't expected to be lethal. This leaves them open to abuse, e.g. when the perp is immobilised on the ground but verbally abusive he'll likely be tased again just because he's a dick.

          1. Nigel 11

            For once, a techno-fix exists

            There's an obvious techno-fix to the problem that law enforcement may use Tasers for punishment or torture. Build in a digital camera which takes a photo every time the taser is fired. Then, higher authorities can review the circumstances in which it was (ab)used. Obviously, it must be impossible for the person firing the Taser to erase the evidence, short of physically destroying the Taser.

  2. Ben Bawden

    I wonder

    what would happen if you tased an electric eel?

    1. K. Adams
      Boffin

      Probably not much...

      ... unless it's swimming in distilled and/or deionised water.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    IT Angle

    Curiously, the first order

    Curiously, the first order, rather than going to the USF&WS or US NPS, went instead to an IT shop in London, attn "Simon".

    NOW there's the IT angle!

  4. Tigra 07
    Coat

    All well and good...

    but how does it fare on unarmed children and people in wheelchairs?

    1. Evil Auditor Silver badge

      unarmed children?!

      All too often, children _are_ weapons against the other passengers (' ears) on the train. Alas I wish I had a Taser with me to apply to those brats and their procreators...

  5. nigel 15

    Video

    I am going to need to see a video of this.....

  6. The Nameless Mist
    Stop

    do not use ..

    on squirrels

    1. Graham Marsden
      Stop

      Or...

      ... Guinea Pigs (qv) ;-)

  7. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Google the following:

    The taser's "Curious Temporal Asymmetry".

    Watching Taser International's slow micro-stepping, during the period of 2007 to the present, towards the obvious truth about the real-world risk of death associated with use of their weapon has been a fascinating study of the human condition.

    To be clear, it's not the weapon. It's their demonstrably false claims they made about the level of inherent safety that are the problem. Those claims (since abandoned) are still believed by many within their less informed customer base.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    so....

    'angry bears'

    What about peace-loving hippy ones?

    1. Graham Marsden
      Coat

      Or...

      ... ones that are Smarter than the Average Bear...!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Coat

      Aren't they all in the Wonderland Zoo?

      Ooh, ooh, Mr. Peevley, Mr. Peevley

      (Now, that's going back a bit...)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Thumb Up

        Yes that would...

        Yes, this Taser would certainly make your "hair" stand on end.

        Yep, I am also that old :D

    3. Yann BZH
      Joke

      what about

      Angry birds?

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    OK, the bear's down...

    ...you pull the barbs out...

    1. Vladimir Plouzhnikov

      And then...

      Who pulled the barbs out !? Who, who, who?!!?!??

  10. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    I like how it's worded.

    You electrocute the bear because the bear's life is in danger. Won't somebody think of the bears?

    So where is this angry bear, anyway? Presumably he's just wandered up behind you in the queue at the supermarket and got outraged at the price of honey? Or perhaps he was involved in an altercation with a fellow citizen over access to a parking space which, escalated into affray? Or is it that some dumb gun-juggling-burger-monkey has traipsed into the woods and pointed a high-powered rifle at one of its offspring. I wonder...

    1. The BigYin
      Pint

      "gun-juggling-burger-monkey"

      Poetry,

    2. Mike VandeVelde
      Go

      scenario 1

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBiboVzi2VI

      http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/10/01/bc-081001-black-bear-fast-food-kitimat.html

      city folk!!!

      1. Geoff Thompson
        Unhappy

        Poor bear

        The bear didn't eat anything and didn't even break anything but got shot anyway.

    3. C 2
      Thumb Up

      hear hear!

      "some dumb gun-juggling-burger-monkey has traipsed into the woods and ..."

      Pure poetic gold, I am going to have to find multiple homes for this phrase.

    4. hamcheeseandonion
      Thumb Up

      There are times...

      ....when I doubt my sanity in reading these comments.....and then a true gem pokes its wee head up out of the dross....."gun-juggling-burger-monkey"????....it's right up there with Ian M Banks description of a homicidal battle droid's avatar:

      "a gorgeously tattooed limping albino dwarf, with a speech impediment and double incontinence"

      AC?...you have my respect sir.

  11. kain preacher

    Um

    Do you want to be close enough to an angry bear to use a stun gun ?

    1. Tigra 07
      Thumb Up

      RE: Kain

      Er...self defense?

      Better to have a stungun than a picnic basket and umbrella.

      I know what i'd rather fight a bear with.

      1. CaptainHook
        Megaphone

        Picnic Basket

        Actually, in that case, just leave the picnic basket and walk away, the bear really isn't going to be interested in you when there are sandwiches to be eaten.

        Or are we now considering stunning bear to protect £2 worth of tescos meal deal?

        Megaphone because it's the icon which looks the most like a stun gun.

        1. Graham Dawson Silver badge
          Coat

          Defending a tesco meal from a bear?

          If a bear can afford the air fare to come over and harass you for your tesco meal then it probably has its own taser too.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Joke

      And what if he pulls a gun on you first?

      What? I was just exercising my right to arm bears...

  12. Cunningly Linguistic
    Troll

    I have to say...

    ...that I'm absolutely shocked.

  13. Pyros
    Joke

    Looks like we'll have to update the classics.

    YOGI: Don't tase me, bro!

  14. Johnny Canuck

    Rogue bears

    In the past most bear attacks on humans were by rogue bears - bears that for whatever reason were unable to get enough to eat. It is also true that mother bears will attack a human to protect her cubs. If you see a couple of cute little cubs in the woods, don't stop to admire, or worse, pet them, just get the hell out of there. In Ontario we are seeing a rise in human/bear interactions and they are occurring further south, which some people attribute to the cancellation of the spring bear hunt, but studies show the bear population is relatively stable. If I lived further north, I wouldn't mind one of these devices.

  15. Barry 1
    Boffin

    Taser them till they glow green in the night.

    Why did it take so long to figure out a Taser would work on Wild animals. I may be an Alaskan but I grew up in a semi farming area. We used electric fences to contain farm animals and they are used to repel Wild animals. So why would a Taser calibrated for Wild animals not work? During test here in Anchorage Alaska, it was found that the barbs needed to be longer or the Taser needed to be a repeater because the barbs would not always get through the hair to the animals skin. In case you are wondering we have had Black and Brown Bears in our neighborhood, and Moose in our back yard (Garden to you). Our neighborhood butts up to a State Park the size of Scotland.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Yogi,

    Ranger Smith isn't going to like that!

    Ho Ho, Booboo, what's Ranger Smith going to do, tase me bro?

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Terrible ...

    Most bears (black and brown bears, not Polar or Grizzly) are perfectly harmless. I've yet to see an angry one.

    Leave the bears alone.

  18. W. Keith Wingate
    Stop

    Can't wait to see the first reference to one of these in the Darwin Awards.

    That is all.

  19. Queeg

    I can see it now...

    "Pass me my Taser Mama,there's critter in tha pasture ima fixin ta fry."

    "You want grits wit yo critter BillyBob?"

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The old-fashioned solution

    I find that a .30-06 with soft-nosed rounds works quite well on angry bears. Afterward, they are no longer angry, and I never have any trouble with them again.

  21. Dalen
    Boffin

    Yes, but...

    ...does it come with a graphite rod extension control dial?

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Animals learning curve

    This isn't such a stupid idea. Bears probably have a better learning curve than humans, when it comes to tazing. A tazed mamabear will teach the cubs which animals are edible and which you avoid, and any animal that inflicts pain the amount tazing does wil go in the "to be avoided" box.

    So pre-empiteve tazing all around. There's a good reason why porcopines in africa are left at piece by every animal, even lions.

  23. JaitcH
    WTF?

    Did Rick Smith, Taser CEO, try it out on himself like other models?

    Rick Smith, Taser CEO, has claimed that he and others in his company, have 'sampled' the effects of their products.

    I wonder if has tried these latest versions of his product out on himself.

    The reaction of a bear whose fir prevented sufficient conductivity on the Taser user would be interesting - maybe they would go for a three-barrelled Taser rifle. (See: < http://www.taser.com/products/law/Pages/TASERXREP.aspx >)

  24. Chimp
    Headmaster

    School edition

    Now we just need one that teachers can use on unruly students. "Forgot your homework again Johnny?"

  25. RyokuMas
    Thumb Up

    A Taser that's loaded for bear?

    There's a BOFH in this and no mistake!

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    Taser or Take-Down?

    If I was confronted with a bear that wanted to rip off my head, I'd rather shoot at it with something that has a little extra kick:

    http://snipershots.killerdillard.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/3D50.jpg

  27. Steve 6
    Flame

    RSPCA could be very unhappy about this, because ...

    This is one time I hope to see the label "Tested on animals".

  28. Daniel B.

    BOFH-approved

    Somehow, when I've seen both this one and the NX edition, the BOFH comes into mind...

  29. SirTainleyBarking
    Badgers

    Hmmmmm

    Thats the smell of Barbeque!

    How do you like your Elk Steaks, Rare, Medium or Well Done?

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Hmmmmm Hungry Bears

    And what if it was a BIG grizzly or Kodiak or Polar bear.... and the TASER all of a sudden decided NOT to work, or it mis fired or the barbs got caught up in the fur or the aim was bad....

    What then?

    Aside from the fact that they are far and few between, High Voltage power lines work really good....

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