Scarlett Johansson and AC/DC team up to help drones scare off wolves and save cattle

It seems you didn't need to drone on and on about protecting your cattle from wolves, you just needed a drone. A team of biologists working near the California-Oregon border have been using AC/DC's "Thunderstruck," movie clips and live human voices to keep the wolves away from cattle in an ongoing experiment.“I am not putting up with this anymore!” actor Scarlett Johansson yells in one clip, from the 2019 film “Marriage Story.” “With what? I can’t talk to people?” co-star Adam Driver shouts back.By the first half of the 20th century, gray wolves were hunted to extinction throughout the U.S. West. After their reintroduction in Idaho at Yellowstone National Park in the mid-1990s, they've increased in population to a point where they have been removed from the endangered species list in the Northern Rockies.

In 2022, gray wolves killed some 800 domesticated animals across 10 states, as per a previous Associated Press review of data from state and federal agencies found.

Now, there are hundreds of wolves in Washington and Oregon, more in northern California and thousands near the Great Lakes.Their increasing numbers have been posing problems for ranchers who have been opting for more and more creative methods to protect the livestock.

Electrified fencing, wolf alarms, guard dogs, horseback patrols, trapping and relocating and now even drones have come to their rescue.

Scientists with the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service developed techniques for hazing wolves by drones while monitoring them using thermal imaging cameras at night, when the apex predators are most active. This is after a preliminary study in 2022 demonstrated that adding human voices through a loudspeaker rigged onto a drone could freak them out.“If we could reduce those negative impacts of wolves, that is going to be more likely to lead to a situation where we have coexistence,” said Dustin Ranglack, USDA's lead researcher on the project.The preloaded clips include recordings of music, gunshots, fireworks and voices. A drone pilot plays three clips at random such as the "Marriage Story" scene or "Thunderstruck" with its screams and hair-raising electric guitar licks.

They also play heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch's cover of "Blue on Black."However, the use of the technology consisting of a drone with night vision and a loudspeaker costs around $20,000, requires professional training, making it impractical for many ranchers.“I’m very appreciative of what they did. But I don’t think it’s a long-term solution,” said Mary Rickert, the owner of a cattle ranch north of Mount Shasta. “What I’m afraid of is that after some period of time, they all of a sudden they go, ‘Wow, this isn’t going to hurt me. It just makes a lot of noise.’”