GPS tracker embedded on cattle against Cattle Rustlers
Hi everybody. I grew up in the countryside. Since I was a child, up to now, cattle rustlers have been a serious problem for cattle farmers. They steal cattle that are ready to be sold, causing considerable financial loss for farmers. Just to give you an idea, a single cow or bull can be valued at $1,500 to $5,000 USD. Imagine being a farmer, taking care of your animals for months, and losing all that effort in just a few minutes.
As a mechatronics engineer, I think a solution might be to introduce a GPS device small enough to be embedded under the cow's skin to prevent thieves from removing it. I'm not a vet, and of course, I care about these lovely animals, but it's the first idea that came to my mind. I've done a quick search on the internet and it seems that these kinds of tiny injectable devices do not exist yet. Therefore, the GPS device would have to hang from the cow's neck using an uncuttable strap or chain—you know what I mean.
It should work as follows:
- If the device or strap is broken or cut, it must send an alert to the farmer's WhatsApp and trigger a loud sound to warn the thieves that they've been caught.
- If the cattle leave or move away from a safe zone set by the farmer (geofencing), it must send an alert.
- There is no internet connection available in the pasture, but the owner will have a connection elsewhere to receive the alerts.
Do you guys have better ideas or suggestions? Do you think it is possible to design a customized PCB with a GPS for this? Is there already a solution on the market for this problem? Would it be necessary to have a server to manage the devices and handle the phone calls and WhatsApp alerts? I'm very excited to hear your ideas. Thank you all!
PD: I've used AI for grammar checking of this post, but the cattle rustlers issue is real.