That’s Bullwinkle, the robot moose.
No, seriously. A robot moose.
Apparently the Natural Resources Department here in Nova Scotia uses him to catch people who are illegally trying to bag an endangered species.
I ran into a story today–admittedly a story from a couple of years back–about this, and it just makes me laugh. It’s a short story, but pure gold:
He had been driving with his wife and child when he stopped his car, jumped out, levelled a rifle over the roof, and fired at the fake moose.
Conservation officers were just metres away and arrested him.
In addition to the hunting ban, McLaren must also pay a $4,025 fine, and forfeit his car and rifle.
I mean, as if “robot moose” weren’t already funny enough, you have to picture this hillbilly (he had a rifle in the car, he stopped to shoot a moose over the roof of the car, he’s a hillbilly) as he realizes that rather than serendipitously bagging a forbidden moose, he’s actually fallen into a trap himself.
While that story points out that McLaren (no relation that I know of) was the first to be convicted of attempting to kill and endangered species, a little Googling shows me that Bullwinkle has been catching poachers for longer than that–I guess it was just a different crime. Here’s a bit from a 2006 story:
The Langilles were two of eight men charged after conservation officers used the robotic decoy in a sting to nab poachers.
Court was told the men were on their way to a deer hunt on Oct. 29 when they spotted the decoy about 65 metres off Liscomb River Road near New Chester in the District of St. Mary’s.
Defence lawyer Shawn MacLaughlin told the Chronicle-Herald that out of instinct, the two hunters each fired a single shot from their rifles when they spotted the decoy.
“Out of instinct”… instinct to kill endangered species, I guess. I note that those guys got much bigger fines than McLaren did, so maybe the old offense was more serious than the “attempting to kill and endangered species one”.
I totally know tonight’s dreams are going to include a moose-i-form Terminator that shoots back… while delivering one-liners in a voice that’s half cartoon Bullwinkle, half Arnold.
