The US government to shoot vaccine laced M&M's at diseased ferrets using drones UPDATE:They're not shooting M&M's just pellets

[yt1993]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/12/us-government-black-footed-ferret-mandm-vaccines

 

That's right folks, you read it correctly.

Quote

The US government is set to unleash drones that fire vaccine-covered M&Ms in a bid to save the endangered black-footed ferret, a species that is facing a plague epidemic across America’s great plains.

The US Fish and Wildlife (FWS) has developed a plan to bombard ferret habitat in Montana with the vaccine, which will be administered via specially designed drones that will be able to shoot M&Ms in three directions simultaneously.

Apparently they tried a different method that wasn't as feasible for larger areas, so they decided to utilize drones instead:

Quote

“We dropped the vaccine out of a bag while walking around, but that’s very hard to do over thousands of acres,” said Randy Machett, a FWS biologist. “Spraying burrows with insecticide to kill the fleas is also labor intensive and not a long-term solution. So we are working with private contractors to develop equipment to drop the vaccine uniformly across an area, rather than one hog getting to eat a big pile of them.”

Machett said a “glorified gumball machine” has been devised to dispense the vaccine. This device can be fitted to a drone, which will use its GPS to reliably drop vaccines at 30ft intervals. The drone will also be able to fire out the M&Ms to the left and right, meaning that three vaccines can be dropped at once.

A modified fish bait machine has helped create the vaccine, which will consist of M&Ms smeared in vaccine-laden peanut butter. Machett said lab tests show that prairie dogs find the bait “delicious”, with a dye added to the mix reliably showing up on the animals’ whiskers.

I had trouble believing I was actually reading what I was reading at first, but then I found more and more sources on the story..
I'm pretty surprised that some college fraternity hasn't tried doing the same thing yet, sans vaccines.

 

UPDATE:
 

Quote

• This article was amended on 15 July 2016. An earlier version incorrectly reported that the drones would shoot vaccine-laced M&Ms. In fact the vaccine takes the form of pellets made in-house by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

 

[Wheeljack699]

the need to to shoot doritos and mountain dew

[Nup]

Wow.... I did not expect that. Also had to do a double-take at the title.

 

well whatever works though  

[Guest]

Thats...

 

Thats a good way to use tax money.

 

I mean, its cool, but there are easier ways.

 

[Simon771]

Hold on ... They are shooting M&M's? Lithe that candy?

Peanuter covered with chocholate?

 

Can I get some?

[TetraSky]

Well, if it works, why not I guess. Though it honestly sounds ridiculous to me.

[Totallycasual]

I love seeing the advancement of technology and all that but sometimes i wonder to myself why the hell cant some politicians stand up and go hey, you know what lets pay someone who currently doesn't have a job to do this. They pay millions of dollars to think about an idea, put forth a plan of execution, then they put together another board of suits to talk about it some more, pay them 100k a year.... it goes on and fucking on and we so rarely seem to take common sense approaches. 

 

I was listening to the radio last night on my way home and they were talking about the recent changes in law to make way for medicinal marijuana and how there are literally hundreds of small farmers looking to get into a new cash crop and fill the incoming demand but our government seems to be only looking at handing the growing licenses to a couple of foreign corporations, so damn frustrating to watch them piss away an opportunity to prop up existing Australian owned and operated businesses. 

[yt1993]

4 hours ago, Simon771 said:

Hold on ... They are shooting M&M's? Lithe that candy?

Peanuter covered with chocholate?

 

Can I get some?

This sounds like it could persuade some anti vaxxers to maybe switch sides - who can say no to peanut butter covered m&m's?

[Mr.Meerkat]

Hmmmm...inb4 the US police accidentally thinks it's a private drone and shoots it down, literally? 

[dalekphalm]

4 hours ago, MagnesiumPC said:

Thats...

 

Thats a good way to use tax money.

 

I mean, its cool, but there are easier ways.

 

Can you describe the "easier" ways? I imagine that FWS has probably thought through quite a few different deployment plans, and decided (probably for multiple reasons) that this was the best way.

[Ichi]

4 hours ago, MagnesiumPC said:

Thats...

 

Thats a good way to use tax money.

 

I mean, its cool, but there are easier ways.

 

I'm also interested in this 'easier ways'.

Let's hear them out.

[Guest]

7 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

Can you describe the "easier" ways? I imagine that FWS has probably thought through quite a few different deployment plans, and decided (probably for multiple reasons) that this was the best way.

 

7 hours ago, Ichi said:

I'm also interested in this 'easier ways'.

Let's hear them out.

how about just scattering some M&Ms near Ferret nesting areas...

 

Cut out the drone and shoot apparatus.

[dalekphalm]

5 hours ago, MagnesiumPC said:

 

how about just scattering some M&Ms near Ferret nesting areas...

 

Cut out the drone and shoot apparatus.

That was discussed in the Article. scattering them by hand simply was taking too long. They had far too much territory to cover. It would have taken significantly longer, at a far greater cost to manpower. They would have spent more in labour wages, then they would building these drones.

[Godlygamer23]

2 minutes ago, ScootsMcgoots said:

How about they have them shoot vaccine covered M&M's in some playgrounds....KIDDING....

The vaccination rate is starting to go down actually, sadly.

[BingoFishy]

2 minutes ago, ScootsMcgoots said:

How about they have them shoot vaccine covered M&M's in some playgrounds....KIDDING....

Why is that bad? The kids won't get hurt (by the vaccine -- don't know about the germs on the ground)

[BingoFishy]

4 minutes ago, ScootsMcgoots said:

Lol cause you are giving kids a vaccine without parental permission ( I mean I think they should but...) 

Then shoot down some permission slips

[Godlygamer23]

1 minute ago, BingoFishy said:

Then shoot down some permission slips

Issued by the government.

[BingoFishy]

1 minute ago, Godlygamer23 said:

Issued by the government.

Of course.

[Bleedingyamato]

2 hours ago, ScootsMcgoots said:

Lol cause you are giving kids a vaccine without parental permission ( I mean I think they should but...) 

It'd be a vaccine not the plague.  lol

 

If parents are going to be dumb and put the health of not only their children but other people as well at risk why not trick the kids into vaccinating themselves?  

 

With all reasonable respect to parents' rights to raise their kids how they want to I don't feel that right applies when overall public health is at risk from misconceptions about what vaccines actually do.  

[Bleedingyamato]

34 minutes ago, ScootsMcgoots said:

I know this is cynical but I wonder what would happen if we put all the people who refuse to vaccinate in a dome ( like the one in The Truman show).  So they either die off or build an immunity over a couple generations. 

I approve of this plan.  Even if people were removed and treated before they were at serious risk of dying it would be a good way to try to open people's eyes to the truth.

 

Though having a sealed bubble world with no way out could be interesting too.  ? lol

[Guest]

On 7/13/2016 at 10:32 PM, dalekphalm said:

That was discussed in the Article. scattering them by hand simply was taking too long. They had far too much territory to cover. It would have taken significantly longer, at a far greater cost to manpower. They would have spent more in labour wages, then they would building these drones.

Planes with modified crop dusters then.

[dalekphalm]

8 hours ago, MagnesiumPC said:

Planes with modified crop dusters then.

Err... so now they're gonna buy (or lease/rent) AIRPLANES? How in God's name is that going to be any cheaper or more efficient then drones? For a single plane, they could probably buy and outfit 2 dozen drones, that can cover the same area, at a significantly higher accuracy.

 

Crop Dusters are basically carpet bombers. Not exactly elegant lol.

[Guest]

On 7/15/2016 at 10:07 AM, dalekphalm said:

Err... so now they're gonna buy (or lease/rent) AIRPLANES? How in God's name is that going to be any cheaper or more efficient then drones? For a single plane, they could probably buy and outfit 2 dozen drones, that can cover the same area, at a significantly higher accuracy.

 

Crop Dusters are basically carpet bombers. Not exactly elegant lol.

First, the US owns a-lot of non-use planes that were modified military crop dusters.

Second Crop Dusters can cover far more area in a short amount of time.

[dalekphalm]

1 hour ago, MagnesiumPC said:

First, the US owns a-lot of non-use planes that were modified military crop dusters.

Second Crop Dusters can cover far more area in a short amount of time.

"The US"? Who is the "US" in this case? Is "The US" the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)? No? Then it doesn't matter. Regular government agencies can't just requisition equipment from totally separate government agencies or organizations. Usually that's a very strictly regulated and limited power.

 

The US Fish and Wildlife Service had a task that needed to be done, and likely had a set budget to afford to do it. If they thought Crop Dusters would have been more efficient and cost effective, they would have used them.

 

A crop duster can cover more area, yes. But not nearly to the same degree of accuracy. They can cover extremely wide areas in broad strokes or straight lines. They cannot cover a tightly packed grid nearly as well though, since a plane would have to turn around and basically come back along a nearly identical course as it originally flew. That's very inefficient.

 

A set of multiple drones, however, could cover the same area, without needing jet fuel/airplane fuel, and can be programmed with extreme accuracy using GPS and autonomous computer controlled flight grids.

 

Honestly it feels like you're arguing just for the sake of arguing. You're not countering my points or the facts very well.

[PlayStation 2]

If it sounds stupid but it works, it ain't stupid.