{"id":6587,"date":"2026-04-13T12:25:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T12:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=6587"},"modified":"2026-04-13T12:25:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T12:25:17","slug":"job-titles-of-the-future-wildlife-first-responder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=6587","title":{"rendered":"Job titles of the future: Wildlife first responder"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The bear necessities<\/h3>\n
Sarmento was studying mountain goats in Glacier National Park when he first started working with bears. To better understand how goats responded to the apex predator, he dressed up in a bear costume once a week for over three years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When he later started as grizzly manager, he often drove long distances to push bears away from farms. Bears are drawn to spilled or leaking grains, and an open silo quickly turns into a buffet. Sarmento would typically arrive armed with a shotgun, cracker shells, and bear spray, but after he narrowly escaped getting mauled one day, he knew he had to pivot.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn that moment,\u201d he says, \u201cI was like, I am gonna get myself killed<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n
A bird\u2019s-eye view<\/h3>\n
Sarmento first turned to two Airedale dogs, a breed known for deterring bears on farms, but the dogs were easily sidetracked. Meanwhile, drones were slowly becoming more common tools for biologists in a range of activities, including counting birds and mapping habitats.<\/p>\n
He first took one into the field in 2022, when a grizzly mom and two cubs were found rummaging around in a silo outside of town. The drone\u2019s infrared sensors helped him quickly find their location, and he used the aircraft\u2019s sound to drive them away from the property. (Researchers suspect bears instinctively dislike the whir of blades because it sounds like a swarm of bees.) \u201cThe whole thing was so clean and controlled,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I did it all from the safety of my truck.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since then, the flying machine that Sarmento bought for $4,000\u2014a fairly simple model with a thermal camera and 30 minutes of battery life\u2014has shown its potential for detecting grizzlies in perilous terrain he\u2019d otherwise have to approach on foot, like dense brush or hard-to-reach river bottoms.<\/p>\n
A new technological foundation<\/h3>\n
Now studying wildlife ecology at the University of Montana, Sarmento is hoping to design a drone campus police can use to deter black bears from school grounds. In the future, he hopes, AI image recognition might be broadly integrated into his wildlife management work\u2014maybe even helping drones identify bears and autonomously divert them from high-traffic areas.<\/p>\n
All this helps keep bears from learning behaviors that lead to conflict with people\u2014which typically ends badly for the bear and is occasionally fatal for humans. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe out-of-the-box technology doesn\u2019t exist yet, but the hope is to keep exploring applications,\u201d he says. \u201cDrones are the next frontier.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Emily Senkosky is a writer with a master\u2019s degree in environmental science journalism from the University of Montana.<\/em>