Guest guest Posted July 31, 2007 Report Share Posted July 31, 2007 Tuesday July 31, 2007-The Star Fireworks the only hope for villagers to stave off elephant invasion By R.S.N. MURALI HULU TERENGGANU: Villagers here are resorting to fireworks to scare away elephant herds that they claimed had been ravaging their crops over the last few weeks. Some of the villagers in Durian Bador, Kuala Menjing, Sekayu and Padang Setar here said they had once caught sight of 13 elephants at their smallholds, mostly planted with corn and other food crops. They said this had been going on for more than a decade, but began to get worse over the last few weeks. " We are terrified and concerned that the elephants may turn violent if confronted, " said villager Abdul Razak Samad, 60. He said the elephants used to keep away from humans, but had now become bolder -- some even coming close to homes and seizing rice bags by slipping their trunks into windows. Abdul Razak estimated that the villagers have suffered close to RM300,000 in damages since the elephantine encroachment. Durian Bador's penghulu (headman) Wan Razali Wan Ismail said he had alerted the State Wildlife Department, which had sent rangers to comb the area to no avail. " For now, we will depend on fireworks as a temporary measure until a permanent solution is worked out, " he added. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 31, 2007 Report Share Posted July 31, 2007 Dear Yitzeling, Just a couple of things to add to this email.... >> Fireworks have been used in India since many many decades by farmers to keep elephants off the land. >> Apart from this they also use fire torches and metal drums to scare away elephants This definitly is more gentle when compared to certain farmers who resort to flinging sharp objects, stones etc at the animals many a times injuring an elephants eye and also death due to injury-infections. Poisoning them is also another unfortunate measure some farmers take up. Over the years I have also come across cases wherein farmers and including tribals at times resorting to scattering poisonous thorns and a particular plant (unfortunately i do not know the english term for it.... in native language it is called anamerati - translates....something/one that scares an elephant) , in the path leading from the forest to their lands. They believe and observe that elephants are afraid of these and would not move in through it. Another very interesting thing i want to share with you on tihs is an incident witnessed - a farmer who had scared an elephant using metal drums met with a surprise when the elephant ploughed into his house the next day but left the kid lying in the cradle untouched. I am not a qualified ethologist, but after observing and documeting many such incidents, i think its quite obvious that elephants find utmost discomfort and irritability to such deterents. May be we need to work on more practical but elephant 'friendly' solutions for this (though the word friendly is not very apt in this case). Thanks, Pablo. On 7/31/07, yitzeling <yitzeling wrote: > > Tuesday July 31, 2007-The Star > > Fireworks the only hope for villagers to stave off elephant invasion > > By R.S.N. MURALI > > HULU TERENGGANU: Villagers here are resorting to fireworks to scare > away elephant herds that they claimed had been ravaging their crops > over the last few weeks. > > Some of the villagers in Durian Bador, Kuala Menjing, Sekayu and > Padang Setar here said they had once caught sight of 13 elephants at > their smallholds, mostly planted with corn and other food crops. > > They said this had been going on for more than a decade, but began to > get worse over the last few weeks. > > " We are terrified and concerned that the elephants may turn violent if > confronted, " said villager Abdul Razak Samad, 60. > > He said the elephants used to keep away from humans, but had now > become bolder -- some even coming close to homes and seizing rice bags > by slipping their trunks into windows. > > Abdul Razak estimated that the villagers have suffered close to > RM300,000 in damages since the elephantine encroachment. > > Durian Bador's penghulu (headman) Wan Razali Wan Ismail said he had > alerted the State Wildlife Department, which had sent rangers to comb > the area to no avail. > > " For now, we will depend on fireworks as a temporary measure until a > permanent solution is worked out, " he added. > > -- WOCON: http://groups.google.co.inwocon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 31, 2007 Report Share Posted July 31, 2007 Hi Pablo, In South Africa a German scientist used dry elephant dung with Mexican chilies to make huge incense sticks. We did try this in our area as well; we have over 80 elephants come out of the forest in the dry season on regular bases. The burning dung and chilies give a kind of thick smoke that is hard to go through with your nose or mouth open, the chilies make even a man cry. Elephants with their strong sense of smell suffer this even more. It worked well, but it needed to be made in advance. This is probably one of the better ways. Electrical fencing does work as well, but is more complicated as just a wire is not enough, some hurdles/obstacles to slow them down when trying to breach the fencing are to be in place. Edwin Wiek WFFT _____ aapn [aapn ] On Behalf Of Pablo Tuesday, 31 July, 2007 14:16 yitzeling Cc: aapn ; animal_net Re: (MY) fireworks to stave off elephant Dear Yitzeling, Just a couple of things to add to this email.... >> Fireworks have been used in India since many many decades by farmers to keep elephants off the land. >> Apart from this they also use fire torches and metal drums to scare away elephants This definitly is more gentle when compared to certain farmers who resort to flinging sharp objects, stones etc at the animals many a times injuring an elephants eye and also death due to injury-infections. Poisoning them is also another unfortunate measure some farmers take up. Over the years I have also come across cases wherein farmers and including tribals at times resorting to scattering poisonous thorns and a particular plant (unfortunately i do not know the english term for it.... in native language it is called anamerati - translates....something/one that scares an elephant) , in the path leading from the forest to their lands. They believe and observe that elephants are afraid of these and would not move in through it. Another very interesting thing i want to share with you on tihs is an incident witnessed - a farmer who had scared an elephant using metal drums met with a surprise when the elephant ploughed into his house the next day but left the kid lying in the cradle untouched. I am not a qualified ethologist, but after observing and documeting many such incidents, i think its quite obvious that elephants find utmost discomfort and irritability to such deterents. May be we need to work on more practical but elephant 'friendly' solutions for this (though the word friendly is not very apt in this case). Thanks, Pablo. On 7/31/07, yitzeling <yitzeling (AT) gmail (DOT) <yitzeling%40gmail.com> com> wrote: > > Tuesday July 31, 2007-The Star > > Fireworks the only hope for villagers to stave off elephant invasion > > By R.S.N. MURALI > > HULU TERENGGANU: Villagers here are resorting to fireworks to scare > away elephant herds that they claimed had been ravaging their crops > over the last few weeks. > > Some of the villagers in Durian Bador, Kuala Menjing, Sekayu and > Padang Setar here said they had once caught sight of 13 elephants at > their smallholds, mostly planted with corn and other food crops. > > They said this had been going on for more than a decade, but began to > get worse over the last few weeks. > > " We are terrified and concerned that the elephants may turn violent if > confronted, " said villager Abdul Razak Samad, 60. > > He said the elephants used to keep away from humans, but had now > become bolder -- some even coming close to homes and seizing rice bags > by slipping their trunks into windows. > > Abdul Razak estimated that the villagers have suffered close to > RM300,000 in damages since the elephantine encroachment. > > Durian Bador's penghulu (headman) Wan Razali Wan Ismail said he had > alerted the State Wildlife Department, which had sent rangers to comb > the area to no avail. > > " For now, we will depend on fireworks as a temporary measure until a > permanent solution is worked out, " he added. > > -- WOCON: http://groups. <http://groups.google.co.inwocon> google.co.inwocon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 31, 2007 Report Share Posted July 31, 2007 Hello Sir, Your are absolutely right! I missed that one out!! In TamilNadu and Kerala region, this practice is followed too and has been very effective (I dont think they were Mexican chillies though and not in the shape of incense sticks). The only negative impact I observed in this was that it affected the other living beings (including humans) around the farm and even birds. I could be wrong though! As far as electrical fencing is concerned, there have been hundreds of deaths through electrocution in India and would call for more stringent specifications. Regards, Pablo. On 7/31/07, Edwin Wiek <edwin.wiek wrote: > > Hi Pablo, > > > > In South Africa a German scientist used dry elephant dung with Mexican > chilies to make huge incense sticks. We did try this in our area as well; we > have over 80 elephants come out of the forest in the dry season on regular > bases. The burning dung and chilies give a kind of thick smoke that is hard > to go through with your nose or mouth open, the chilies make even a man cry. > Elephants with their strong sense of smell suffer this even more. It worked > well, but it needed to be made in advance. This is probably one of the > better ways. Electrical fencing does work as well, but is more complicated > as just a wire is not enough, some hurdles/obstacles to slow them down when > trying to breach the fencing are to be in place. > > > > Edwin Wiek > > WFFT > > > ------------------------------ > > ** aapn [aapn ] *On Behalf Of * > Pablo > *Sent:* Tuesday, 31 July, 2007 14:16 > *To:* yitzeling > *Cc:* aapn ; animal_net > *Subject:* Re: (MY) fireworks to stave off elephant > > > > Dear Yitzeling, > > Just a couple of things to add to this email.... > > >> Fireworks have been used in India since many many decades by farmers to > keep elephants off the land. > >> Apart from this they also use fire torches and metal drums to scare > away > elephants > > This definitly is more gentle when compared to certain farmers who resort > to > flinging sharp objects, stones etc at the animals many a times injuring an > elephants eye and also death due to injury-infections. Poisoning them is > also another unfortunate measure some farmers take up. > > Over the years I have also come across cases wherein farmers and including > tribals at times resorting to scattering poisonous thorns and a particular > plant (unfortunately i do not know the english term for it.... in native > language it is called anamerati - translates....something/one that scares > an > elephant) , in the path leading from the forest to their lands. They > believe > and observe that elephants are afraid of these and would not move in > through > it. > > Another very interesting thing i want to share with you on tihs is an > incident witnessed - a farmer who had scared an elephant using metal drums > met with a surprise when the elephant ploughed into his house the next day > but left the kid lying in the cradle untouched. > > I am not a qualified ethologist, but after observing and documeting many > such incidents, i think its quite obvious that elephants find utmost > discomfort and irritability to such deterents. May be we need to work on > more practical but elephant 'friendly' solutions for this (though the word > friendly is not very apt in this case). > > Thanks, Pablo. > > On 7/31/07, yitzeling <yitzeling <yitzeling%40gmail.com>> wrote: > > > > Tuesday July 31, 2007-The Star > > > > Fireworks the only hope for villagers to stave off elephant invasion > > > > By R.S.N. MURALI > > > > HULU TERENGGANU: Villagers here are resorting to fireworks to scare > > away elephant herds that they claimed had been ravaging their crops > > over the last few weeks. > > > > Some of the villagers in Durian Bador, Kuala Menjing, Sekayu and > > Padang Setar here said they had once caught sight of 13 elephants at > > their smallholds, mostly planted with corn and other food crops. > > > > They said this had been going on for more than a decade, but began to > > get worse over the last few weeks. > > > > " We are terrified and concerned that the elephants may turn violent if > > confronted, " said villager Abdul Razak Samad, 60. > > > > He said the elephants used to keep away from humans, but had now > > become bolder -- some even coming close to homes and seizing rice bags > > by slipping their trunks into windows. > > > > Abdul Razak estimated that the villagers have suffered close to > > RM300,000 in damages since the elephantine encroachment. > > > > Durian Bador's penghulu (headman) Wan Razali Wan Ismail said he had > > alerted the State Wildlife Department, which had sent rangers to comb > > the area to no avail. > > > > " For now, we will depend on fireworks as a temporary measure until a > > permanent solution is worked out, " he added. > > > > > > -- > WOCON: http://groups.google.co.inwocon > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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