CDs to deter elephants from crop raiding

07/11/2008 10:21:38

Gamekeepers trick might work for elephants

November 2008. Bad music is being put to good use in Thailand where stringing up unwanted CDs is helping to keep elephants away from farmers' crops. Gamekeepers in the UK have been using CDs for years to keep foxes away from pheasant pens, but now it seems that this same technique might work on elephants too (not that they are a problem for most pheasants).

The Elephant Conservation Network (ECN), working with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), is the first to trial the technique of using CDs as light reflectors to deter the world's largest land animal from Thailand's crops.

Human-elephant conflict
ECN and local partners are working to diminish the incidence of human-elephant conflict - especially the growing issue of crop-raiding which is threatening rural livelihoods and the lives of elephants. Crop-raiding occurs on traditional elephant forest routes with these large animals devouring crops and destroying trees in their path. This is a major burden for farmers as crops are destroyed, houses can be flattened and people can be hurt or even killed.

Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary
The Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary, in West Thailand, was the country's first wildlife sanctuary and is now home to around 150 Asian elephants. But over the years the sanctuary has been diminished by encroachment and degraded by over-exploitation.

ZSL Thailand Elephant Project Manager and Director of ECN, Belinda Stewart-Cox, said: "We are working with famers to find a cost-effective way for them to keep elephants out of their fields."

"We've been monitoring human impacts on elephants and their forest habitat as well as elephant impacts on people. What we've found is that people are doing as much, or more, damage to elephants as vice versa. Elephants are being deprived of habitat, food and water so they have no choice but to raid farms to survive".

wild elephants in Thailand. Credit ZSL.

Works best during full moon
Local villagers working with the ECN made a special visit to a south west Thailand national park where other villagers were tackling the elephant crop-raiding problem.

"One villager had hung CDs across a fence to discourage elephants from raiding his pineapple field. The technique was most effective during full moon when the CDs twisted and shone, mimicking a person with a torch. Our villagers loved this cheap and easy method and asked us to include it in our crop protection trials." she said.

CDs strung with string have been set-up around the Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary in two different sites - surrounding a field of sugarcane and around a mango and papaya orchard.

Ms Stewart-Cox said: "We put the word out and local companies donated hundreds of CDs that were either promotional giveaways or music people didn't want anymore."

Other methods - Chilli, plastic bag and electric fences
Some other methods tested by the ECN and resourceful Thai villagers include plastic bags tied along string to mimic an electric fence, chilli and tobacco oil fences as well as different types of electric fencing.

"The benefit of using CDs is that it's cost-effective, easy and at this stage is working. Elephants are extremely intelligent animals so famers still need to set up a watch-tower to keep an eye on their crops. We are analysing the effectiveness of this method but it offers an initial deterrent and fix to a significant problem in Thailand and to the Asian elephant population in this area."

These one year crop protection trials are part of a larger three year human-elephant conflict project funded by the Darwin Initiative.