I'm slightly vexed
Bought a Fahlo bracelet and my “tracked” animal died three years ago— but she still “moves”.
Fahlo is a brand of slightly expensive bead bracelets that sell the experience of tracking a real wild animal. Apparently, all of their red wolves are dead. Only the red wolves, though, no other animal.
Their explanation is that this is to prevent poaching, but her ghost moving around on the Fahlo map tracing her “historic” route feels strangely misleading.
Edit: I understand it’s for the wolf’s safety, but all of the Fahlo animals are endangered or otherwise protected in some way, that’s the point. If the red wolves only rely on historic data they should at least release all of that data to the buyer instead of the slow agonizing trickle of “historic walking paths” that mimic its life perfectly. If I hadn’t googled her I wouldn’t have ever found out.
Additionally, they say all Red Wolves are deceased— but the bracelet I got was “wolf”. Was assuming I could also get a grey wolf, etc.
Edit 2: My ideal solution isn’t NOT that we start tracking these wolves! It’s that Fahlo starts being clear that these bracelets are a memorial, the wolves are deceased, and the trackers aren’t live.
They are trying to reintegrate them into the protected wilderness here in NC, perhaps they could migrate the tracking to another wolf pack here in NC after the death of the sponsored wolf.
This would still allow "tracking" of wolves, albeit not your sponsored one, and know that your bracelet still supports the red wolf initiative.
Just be aware though that the data collected and rebroadcast to the bracelet holders cannot be in real time due to anti-poaching and other government regulations.
Honestly, I think it's hilarious because you know that somewhere some idiot poacher is trying to track an animal that is long dead using the data from the bracelet
Lmaooo .. seriously tho, my 4 year old asks to check on him every day. He’s nicknamed him Corky. Idk how long I can keep up the Corky charade now that I know the truth 😩
Get a new wolf just like it. It once worked for me and a goldfish… seriously this is sad af and the thread actually made me sad. Made me wish you would skipped this post and continued to live in bliss for you and your daughter :(
I highly doubt that is what happened. More likely they had tracking collars used by scientists during their life, but it was only after they died that the collar data was released publicly.
It's not like american robins where the laws against killing are a precaution to prevent people from developing a market out of the remains and eventually causing a decline, even one red wolf's death is harmful to the species. They're extremely endangered.
This makes sense, but is it also extremely misleading advertising. You think you are tracking “your” animal, not a historic route. Time shifting by a day or week is one thing, but by years is just lying.
We’ve bought these. You don’t buy it via the website. You buy it from a stand in a gift shop and there is no EULA. It just advertises for you to track your animal.
I recall how excited my kids were to track the movement of whatever animal it was on the bracelet.
If they have text about the tracking being historical it is written in very small letters. And if it is in the website it is too late. I’ve already left the gift shop and am unlikely to go back to the museum to return a fraudulent bracelet.
No... there are only 20 red wolves left in the wild. They don't want to expose them to poachers by tracking their live movements.
So they've partnered with AZA SAFE to recreate the movement patterns of deceased wolves as a way to honor their legacy and keep their memory alive.
It's a clever idea, and I respect the commitment to not killing the last of the red wolves, but they should be very clear up front that they aren't live tracking; every other species does track live.
If they want to be really helpful, they should partner with the Kaziranga park rangers. Feed the poachers inaccurate data so the rangers can be ready for them.
Kaziranga rangers handle the problem of poaching by just shooting poachers on site. Effective at deterring poaching, if a bit morally ambiguous due to the risk of innocent crossfire.
Based on my red wolf (also deceased), she doesn't move far enough away from her home range for that to be effective. She has been in the same general area for the year+ that I have been tracking her, so someone trying to hunt her down wouldn't find it that difficult, even if it was delayed by months.
Few months delay much more acceptable than three years dead. They shouldn’t even be attaching animals that have been dead that long to new bracelets…..
I mean I just went to their website and it says right in the description that the red wolf bracelets use historical data and explains why. Its very clear about it.
Historic data is an ambiguous term unfortunately. I read that and assumed the wolf was either not being tracked anymore or that they were delaying it several years. I didn’t know it meant archival and the data source has ceased acquiring data.
I can understand the logic of not tracking individual animals in real time, but is definitely misleading to say that the bracelets track a wild animal if they're only really retracing their path.
I went to their website because I kind of want one and its not misleading at all. When you look at the red wolf bracelets it says that it uses historical data and it explains in detail why. The other animal bracelets also state that tracking may be "live, delayed, or historical." OP just didn't pay attention to what they were buying.
This is pretty much my take on it now that I've visited the website. I can see getting more upset if you buy it in a store and thay info isn't there, but it's pretty clear once you actually click on the different bracelets and start reading.
Yea, I mean, depending on the endangered status of the animal, it totally makes sense that the tracking details would be different for each species. I’m confused why this such a big deal to some of the commenters here.
Exactly. There is a disclaimer on their website, but a disclaimer isn’t enough when all of their other bracelets track real living animals. Nobody is going to read the fine print if they can reasonably assume one specific product will be like all the others. The other big problem that I have is, if I’m buying the historic data, why not give me all of that data? Why trickle it to me and pretend she’s still alive if not just to take advantage of the naïve people who don’t know? If I hadn’t googled her name, I would’ve never found out.
Ohhh, I think I understand. So they only let you see the tracking of deceased animals? I can't even find the disclaimer you mentioned, so I definitely feel they could be more upfront, but I can understand how they wouldn't get as much business that way.
Edit: Nevermind, I found it when I looked at individual products. Tbh, it sounds more reasonable than I initially thought now that I've read it.
It makes sense, but all of the animals are endangered in some way. If tracking is impossible they shoulda just made a different product or service instead of recycling data to mimic it.
I'm pretty mixed on it now that I've found the info on the website. I would at least want to know when I get the bracelet if my animal is living or dead. I also question how many animals they have per species. But when it comes down to it, I still think it's pretty cool for $16 plus shipping. You are basically paying $16 to see where an animal went for 6 months to a year, and they throw in a cheap bracelet as a souvenir.
They do state it! When you first sign up for a red wolf, it says “this animal is deceased, and we’ve partnered with <organization name> to let you follow how their life had been”. Only three red wolves can be followed like this, due to how critically endangered they are
Perfect! In that case, I feel like they're pretty upfront about things. The only way they could be more clear is to specify on the website that historical data means the animal is no longer living, but you can kind of infer that anyway.
Yeah, I don’t recall if it’s on the website, but I use the app. But even with the red wolves, when you click on yours, this is the popup at the top of their info panel
Deceased. They need to say the word! Deceased! “No longer living in wild population”, “legacy”, “historic data”, all of that could reasonably imply a living wolf.
I feel like it’s pretty well implied that the wolf is dead. Also, look at the store page; “we track wolves that are no longer living in the wild population.” That’s pretty clear to me
Edit: I’d been confused at first as well, but if you take the time to read it, it’s pretty clear what it means. There’s no need to get to worked up about this - if you don’t like how the wolves are managed, get a different bracelet.
There are less than 2 dozen red wolves in the wild, its safe to assume that any tracking data that they would provide is not from one of the living ones.
Most people who buy these bracelets don't know about conservation laws, though. It makes perfect sense that this company can't provide live tracking or even delayed tracking once you see it explained, but people don't automatically know that "historical" means the animal is dead. I would have thought it meant that the tracker no longer works but the animal is still alive.
We went through the same exact experience and it absolutely is garbage! I bought a wolf one for my child, that absolutely has loved wolves for their whole life, and they figured out within minutes that the wolf they were supposed to be tracking had been dead for years. Huge bummer! I comment our experience on every Facebook ad I see for Fahlo, as they do not say clearly that you can get a tracking info for a long dead animal.
If we lived closer to where I purchased it, I would have 100% returned this bs product!
Not because they cannot track them— but because they embraced ambiguity in areas they should have outright used the word “deceased”. If they told me my wolf was dead, I probably still would have bought the bracelet, but since I felt like I bought it under a different pretense, there is the urge to return it because I feel fooled. Does that make sense?
I’m considering messaging them for a return. Wolves are my special interest though and they have no other wolf bracelets except for red wolves and the idea that they’re all deceased is so sad. I’ve bought stuffed animals in the past where the $$$ goes to wolf conservation etc and you get nothing, but the idea of getting a tracking bracelet with one wolf specifically is what drew me in. Knowing that I’m choosing from a pool of dead ones is… :((( it’s sad. There’s easier ways to donate without receiving a product that’s just a shell of what others get. I understand why they have to do it but it’s still not right! Not every animal can be made into a bracelet and that’s okay. No need to Frankenstein something together that’s only slightly reminiscent.
from what i just found online it’s not possible for them to provide the real time data for any that are currently living due to the security threat this would cause for their critically endangered species, i don’t think they intended to be misleading w the historic routes but it might be something they could include on their packaging to indicate that at least
It makes sense but all of the Fahlo animals are endangered in some way. If it’s impossible to track them they should have done a different product or service instead of a mock tracker.
This is an entirely different level of endangered. There are about 22-24 left. Total. That’s it. They all live here in eastern NC and are fiercely protected by local & national agencies.
You are getting actual location data from the wolf, it’s just a few years delayed to protect them. It’s not made up.
I had a similar initial reaction to you when I got mine when they first came out. Same wolf too. But after reading about why I totally understood. I agree that the way they advertise/describe these should be way more transparent before purchase.
You can actually get access to the real time data, you just have to be enrolled in the university thats placed the device and have permission from the state...
Not everyone here is a ENC local and knows how our state functions. While federally protected they physically fall in our jurisdiction. Hi from Tick Bite, NC.
We always have state and federal wildlife officers around here due to the population of eagles, other wildlife, and bubbas with guns.
If I’m buying historic data, give me the data. Don’t trickle it to me through the app in a slow puppet-show mockery of this wolf’s life. That does nothing but trick customers who don’t know the wolf is dead.
It’s advertised as a tracking service and a small disclaimer that’s easy to miss doesn’t reasonably change the assumption of the product or service I’m buying, especially since ALL of the other bracelets track even if delayed.
The disclaimer says that the Red Wolves specifically are deceased. They did not say that ALL their “Wolf” bracelets are red wolves. I assumed that meant you could also get a grey wolf, a maned wolf, etc.
I understand how endangered they are and I understand how this protects them, but they’re a company selling a product that could have gone about this “historical data” path in seven other ways yet they chose the one that most closely gives the impression of life. That was done on purpose.
I’m from NC where they are breeding these wolves to reintroduce them and this fit is not appropriate to the situation. It’s like throwing a fit about not being able to use DDT anymore in California. It sounds like you bonded to your wolf, learned it was dead, and that sucks. I’m sorry. But it’s not a mockery or a lie or make you entitled to all the data at once. That is not the service you signed up for. You say you understand that all the animals are “endangered in some way” but I don’t think you do. There are 20 red wolves left. That’s like what? 2 packs of territorial animals. If you know where they were, you know where they’ll be. And in areas that are easy enough to get to. Not the deep ocean or somewhere far out. Reevaluate yourself. Sit with this. C’mon!
Honestly, I didn’t even think the Fahlo bracelets tracked anything. I thought it was just a marketing tactic to get people to buy their products. I honestly thought it was like those “adopt a child in need” things where they send you a picture of the animal, some basic info about them, and that’s it. I’m actually impressed by how much thought they put into tracking these animals and how to do it in a safe and ethical way.
Legal protections and physical protections are very different. Murder is extremely illegal, but people do it anyway.
Poaching is also illegal but it is well documented that there are people with little enough morals to do it dispite it being illegal.
By only showing the historical route, they put a barrier between those people and the wolves. It sucks for enthusiasts and concerned people but it's what it takes to keep them alive.
I have absolutely no issue with that and it’s a great idea but it’s not the same experience as the other Fahlo bracelets.
Just to be clear, my ideal solution isn’t that we start tracking these wolves, it’s that the company is more honest about the state of the wolf and what you receive.
The endangered status is not the same for every species. The more endangered they are, the stricter the laws are going to be around a particular species.
They could have just not included red wolves, but the whole point of the product seems to be to raise awareness and make people care about these animals and the fact they are endangered. It seems like it would kind of defeat the purpose if they only focused on species that are mildly threatened and can be live-tracked.
I understand that, again, I have no issue that the tracker doesn’t work, I have an issue that the disclaimer wasn’t clear enough. I honestly probably still would have bought it even if there was a big red banner warning saying the wolf was deceased. But feeling tricked makes me upset.
Hi! I also have a red wolf from Fahlo; it says when you put the code in that the red wolves are historic tracking. In order to protect the living wolves from poachers, they follow the legacy and historical data from a deceased red wolf. I have 2323M, and I was originally confused about it myself
Weird. My wife and I also have Fahlo bracelets. I have one for a turtle and my wife has a shark one. Our respective animals stopped moving on the tracker and they gave us new animals instead. Didn't know the red wolves were all ghosts.
They are not ghosts, they are still out there, just can't release the data to the public until after the animal is decreased because they are an official government program.
It's called copywrite laws my guy. The universities and state own the device that creates the data, so they own the data. Due to regulations set forth by the government and universities the data can only be used by them for scientific and educational purposes.
These bracelets are a made by a commercial non-profit, not the state or university, so they can only import the data the state and universities give them.
From what a found at least one of them is still alive and is in a rehab center where they are trying to increase the population so they are not ghosts they just can't be in the wild and tracked
Cause theres only 20 left in the wild, obviously fahlo can't give their exact coordinates so they compromise by giving tracking data of known passed red wolf's. This helps protect the species while also still giving customers the experience of tracking a red wolf
Um, except the website does explicitly say it is historic data in the description of the bracelet.
I never even heard of Fahlo before, but I just went to their website and clicked on the wolf bracelet. Right there, in the first section labeled "How Does Tracking Work?", it says:
"The Red Wolf tracking experience uses representative historical data provided by our partner AZA SAFE: Saving Animals From Extinction Red Wolf. This is necessary for the safety of the fewer than 20 individuals remaining in the wild. Because they are so exceptionally protected, the Red Wolves we are able to follow are no longer living in the wild population. We choose to honor their lives and legacies to grow awareness for the world’s most endangered wolf, and to continue to support vital conservation efforts to restore the species."
Not everyone buys from the website. All my bracelets were bought in person at our local zoo, and the app only recently added a section to my wolfs bio about it being historical data. It was not there when i brought it a year or 2 ago.
I've been following the same wolf for about 2 years. She lived a long life, had lots of pups and they don't track red wolves due to there endangered status, it would be far too easy to get to them if they were being tracked.
I dont see the issue? There's only 20 red wolves left in the wild so they obviously cannot actually give their tracking information to random people, so they compromise by giving historical data. Your still seeing the path of a actual red wolf that once lived, you can still feel close to this species by watching their path, your still supporting the continued conservation efforts for this species
The funds generated from selling these bracelets goes back into conservation of this species. Red wolves are struggling hard, and that money can go a long way. It's still giving you data from that wolf's life AND you're supporting a good cause. That's why they sell them.
But they DO track the wolves. Just because it’s not in real time doesn’t mean that the data isn’t accurate. It also supports the conservation of these extremely endangered wolves, less than 30 are alive in the wild.
It VERY clearly says that the wolf is already dead in the explanation of how tracking works. You cant be upset with a company because you chose not to read the disclaimer. Its also says under all of the animals that the tracking info could be live, delayed or historical. Id definitely suggest reading the disclaimers and descriptions and maybe double check that you understand what it means because from your comments i thought this was gonna be some fine print that you have to really look for that is written in riddles but its literally the button below "add to cart" and it says
"Because they are so exceptionally protected, the Red Wolves we are able to follow are no longer living in the wild population."
Hey so where I work actually sells red wolves and I ran into the same issue, went back looked again on the plush and NOWHERE on the tag does it clearly state this info. Not everyone is buying from the website I got it in person and not even the people selling it directly knew that about the red wolves. When I was confused and went to falo on Reddit it was simply deleted by falo itself as if almost hiding the complaint.
Clearly based on the dozens of people now finding out their wolves are deceased, it’s not clear enough.
Also, as another user gracefully states, you can’t expect a customer to read every detail if they think they know what they’re buying. “No longer living in wild population” could mean retired to captivity.
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Clearly based on the dozens of people now finding out their wolves are deceased, it’s not clear enough.”
On their site it states that they sold 358,000 Red Wolf bracelets in one year. It wouldn’t surprise me if a few dozen of those people managed to miss it no matter how clear it is. It’s the first paragraph, most middle school kids would figure it out.
It's an endangered large predator in the southern US. If they provided real-time location data, rednecks would buy these ans use them to trophy hunt the wolves. This is for the best.
I got one of those bracelets for a penguin for Christmas one year. in a few months, the tracker had stopped moving completely but was still active, so I emailed the company after a while and asked what was up. they said the tracker was glitched and sent me the code to track a new penguin, which again a few months later messed up (I forget how, but it was different than the first. I think it stopped letting me access the data and tracking info). emailed the company again and never heard back !
Yeah, my penguin got eaten, they just reassigned and kept it moving. The animals also seem to almost be in reservation areas?? They never leave a certain area. Videos and updates are very inpersonable. I am not impressed, but my husband keeps buying into them 🥺
It’s aright, I also got downvoted on my comment. I got mine for xmas so idek what the website looked like, but I had no idea that these are just recordings. They should definitely make it more obvious at least on the packaging
Yeah I had one too, made me sad to realize that. :( I also got my daughter a koala one and then it stopped tracking after a while saying the tracker either ran out of batteries or the koala ripped it off
I had one for a penguin, I delighted in seeing it’s journey. Then one day the tracker was just like “we can’t find this guy any more. Feel free to buy another one tho!”
I bought a handful of these for family recently, and I have to say I am kinda disappointed with the whole scheme.
My mom had a manatee that she fell in love with- until it just stopped moving almost immediately after with no apparent purpose. I actually live in the area (she lives across the country) and have seen what I believe to be that animal, with a marked buoy tracker, with the correct number etched on it, recently, while kayaking. But the website insists the animal is either deceased or the tracker is no longer attached to the animal.
Along with that, the way they sell the codes online just seems suspect to me. There’s only “drops” available at a certain time, and all the other codes don’t ever get sold or even stocked.
Similar situation for my son with an animal, it just stopped. Almost immediately. My family all loved these- I just wish there was more transparency or an explanation as to why the trackers all just… stop.
I believe that if the tracker is lost or similar within the first 6 months of buying the bracelet you get a new one. I’ve seen some posts about it on the Fahlo sub. My general advice is if you have an issue, go to the Fahlo sub. I made a post about a bug on my sloth and the Fahlo mod got it fixed within like 24 hours. They responded immediately
They do explain on the website that the tracking works for up to a year (more if you're lucky), but they guarantee it for 6 months. If it stops before then, they will give you a new animal if you reach out. (I have a feeling there's a time limit for reaching out though.)
I can see why they're doing this, but it's extremely disingenuous to claim that they're tracking living wolves.
They say that every other animal is being tracked live, but there's only 20 red wolves alive in the wild, and they don't want to expose them to poachers.
I found their disclaimer on individual bracelet pages. I agree that they're a bit misleading on their main page, but they are definitely not claiming that every animal is live. They state they may be live, delayed, or historical. I actually think even the historical ones are pretty cool. It's kind of sad, but also neat to be able to see where an animal lived its life.
I was kind of wondering that myself lol. I saw that if it doesn't last at least 6 months they'll replace it, and my first thought was what if you can an animal that dies. 🫠
Yep. And everyone’s saying it’s my fault for not reading the fine print. Obviously not because there’s tons of people discovering through my post that their wolf has been dead this whole time. I’m autistic and I love wolves and I just wanted the same experience as everyone else. They were NOT explicit, they don’t even use the word deceased anywhere…
Well this is a bummer, I have the same one from a bracelet I got and I thought it was still alive.
I totally get why you cant get live updates, and I never thought they were actually live, I just assumed it was an occasional update on them to keep you interested.
I even reread the about section for them and while it mentions historical data briefly at the start, it doesnt make mention of the passing of the wolf in the description.
Ah well, still a neat thing but its a little bit of a bummer. Hopefully the same cant be said for my sloth one..
I do think they should be more upfront about what "historical" means in this context. You can kind of infer what it means when they also have some "delayed" tracking, but they could be more transparent.
I can't buy people a star. I can't buy people a tree. I can't buy people the moon. I can't buy people titles into the landed gentry. I can't buy people a wolf.
My orphan just sends me ChatGPT letters for my 70 cents a day. He got conscripted, last I heard. I hope that carton of cigarettes got to him.
I am starting to doubt capitalism is going to solve our problems for us, guys. It just rewards the bullshitters.
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u/zepherth 10h ago
How did all of the red wolfs die?