Remember how they used to put bells on cats to warn the birds? Well now they have sharks Tweeting to warn the swimmers. I know there aren’t a lot of sharks menacing the beaches of Minnesota but I thought this was so simple in its elegance that I had to share…

Sharks in Western Australia are now tweeting out where they are — in a way.

Government researchers have tagged 338 sharks with acoustic transmitters that monitor where the animals are. When a tagged shark is about half a mile away from a beach, it triggers a computer alert, which tweets out a message on the Surf Life Saving Western Australia Twitter feed. The tweet notes the shark’s size, breed and approximate location.

Maybe we could get bears Tweeting in Minnesota. Or maybe there’s a way to get pets Tweeting. So if your puppy goes missing you can flag a Tweet from him with a location.