Use of wireless electricity transmission in zoos

[Tapirus Lar]

With the advent of wireless charging and electric transmission without wires, and the fact that electricity can indeed travel through the air, i was wondering if zoos could develop this tech in a larger scale, and use it to make invisible barriers, predominantly for, lets say bird exhibits.
What i mean to say is, you could transmit electricity in definite paths through the air, to create a sort if invisible electric mesh around an enclosure to contain the animals.
I don't have much knowledge regarding electricity and its transmission and such, and the idea might sound a silly, but it could be a great way to create an immersive exhibit.
Your thoughts and suggestions on this idea would be welcome.

P.S I didn't know how to precisely word the title of the thread, so if anyone could suggest a better title, I would be grateful for your help.

 

[ZooNews2024]

With the advent of wireless charging and electric transmission without wires, and the fact that electricity can indeed travel through the air, i was wondering if zoos could develop this tech in a larger scale, and use it to make invisible barriers, predominantly for, lets say bird exhibits.
What i mean to say is, you could transmit electricity in definite paths through the air, to create a sort if invisible electric mesh around an enclosure to contain the animals.
I don't have much knowledge regarding electricity and its transmission and such, and the idea might sound a silly, but it could be a great way to create an immersive exhibit.
Your thoughts and suggestions on this idea would be welcome.

P.S I didn't know how to precisely word the title of the thread, so if anyone could suggest a better title, I would be grateful for your help.

How do the animals know there is an invisible barrier?
This sounds like a potential animal welfare nightmare. Hiding electric wires in grass or bushes so the animals cant see what has zapped them, is bad enough - but making barriers completely invisible takes this to the extreme.

 

[Tapirus Lar]

That's something I didn't realise, thank you for commenting.
I suppose the animals could die of trauma if they can't see what is zapping them and thus don't realise and get zapped a lot

 

[Lafone]

With the advent of wireless charging and electric transmission without wires, and the fact that electricity can indeed travel through the air, i was wondering if zoos could develop this tech in a larger scale, and use it to make invisible barriers, predominantly for, lets say bird exhibits.
What i mean to say is, you could transmit electricity in definite paths through the air, to create a sort if invisible electric mesh around an enclosure to contain the animals.
I don't have much knowledge regarding electricity and its transmission and such, and the idea might sound a silly, but it could be a great way to create an immersive exhibit.
Your thoughts and suggestions on this idea would be welcome.

P.S I didn't know how to precisely word the title of the thread, so if anyone could suggest a better title, I would be grateful for your help.

The only trials of so called invisible fencing are in cattle as far as I am aware and require them to wear an individual collar. An audio and then electric cue goes off to keep them in an area and is theotectically softer than contacting a fence, but the visual indicator is of course missing. And it's not proven.

There are also similar things available for dogs though I think using electric shock collars in that way is ridiculous and there are moves to ban the equivalent tech for dogs in the UK anyway.

There's no effective way to scale a barrier in the way you suggest at this time. Even if there was, it's unlikely animals / birds could be 'trained' to wear collars and the invisible nature of the fencing would probably lead to lots of accidents.

Immersive exhibitry at the moment is probably best considered in terms of good, safe viewing for visitors and well formed and constructed enclosures, vs creating invisible walls. It's probably better for zoos and collections to consider the best and safest barriers appropriate to the species - not all have to have roofed enclosures for example.

 

[Aardwolf]

To say nothing of the inevitable, unexpected power outage that would occur. When your dog gets loose from an electric-fence enclosed yard when the power goes out, you can usually call them back or chase them, if you have to. If such a system existed to enclose flying animals and the power went out on you... well, so long.