Legal, disclaimers and the rules we work by

Last updated September 13, 2026.

Animal welfare statement

• Deer and wildlife: no wild animal is captured, handled or tagged without the state wildlife agency's permit and a licensed research or management partner; AntlerFlok begins with managed herds (farms, fenced preserves, ranches, university herds). Harnesses are breakaway, under 1 % of body weight, drop off on a timer or command, and are fitted only by trained handlers under the partner's protocol. Rutting, fawning and winter-stress seasons are off-limits for handling. Cues are vibration only; no shock collars, ever. Bears are tracked only where the agency already collars them.
• Trees: no nails, no cutting, padded straps, off in a minute, written landowner or park permission; heritage trees only with a ranger present.
• Pigeons: owned racing/homing pigeons from a local club only, with the owner's written consent. Payload under 5 % of body weight, standard leg-loop harness, no glue, no collar. Wild birds are never captured, tagged or handled. Any bird showing stress, feather damage or weight loss is untagged and rested.
• Cats: no cat is trapped, collared or handled outside a written agreement with a licensed shelter, animal-services department or TNR organization. Collars are breakaway, under 30 g, and Phase 1 collars go only on working cats at fenced private sites and on owned community cats. Ear-tip remains the ID.
• Surgery and veterinary care are performed only by licensed veterinarians or supervised students under a licensed DVM, under that clinic's liability. AMH is the technology and data layer.
• Working cats: placed at five years old or younger; retired to indoor adoption around age ten or on any health concern. No cat works for life.
• We stop on any evidence of harm and report it to the partner and, where required, to animal services.

Radio

Nodes use Meshtastic on the 915 MHz ISM band at stock power, which needs no license in the United States. We do not modify radios beyond regulatory limits. Message delivery is best-effort; do not rely on the mesh for emergencies in place of 911.

Rodents, nests and extermination

When the mesh, the thermal sweeps or the cats find a rat nest, burrow or infestation that needs elimination, the work is subcontracted to a licensed pest-control operator (state structural-pest license, their insurance, their methods). AMH does not apply pesticides, hold a pest-control license or perform extermination; we locate, verify, hand off, and re-check that the site stays empty. Working cats are a deterrent and a re-infestation check, not a kill method.

Drones

Any drone repeater flights follow FAA rules: Part 107 certificate for commercial use, LAANC where airspace requires it, under 400 ft, no flights over people or private yards without permission.

Data and location policy

Raw animal GPS stays with the partner and the contracting city. Public outputs are aggregated. Residential addresses, feeding sites and individual owned animals are never published. See the privacy policy.

Liability and disclaimer

Program descriptions, budgets, headcounts, prices and outcome projections are planning estimates unless marked as a city's published figure with a source. Published research results (for example the Alachua County TNR study) describe those studies' conditions, not a guarantee for any city. AMH does not certify hardware for animal wear until fit, weight, weather and welfare testing is complete and documented with the partner.

Grants and nonprofits

AMH is a for-profit builder. Grants that require a 501(c)(3) are applied for by the partner organization or a fiscal sponsor; AMH invoices for hardware, software and services.

Contact: amh@artificialmindhive.com