Las Cruces
A PEPPER spray that deters elephants from raiding farms is being developed by
a zoologist at the University of Cambridge and an inventor in Pennsylvania.
鈥淚n Asia, elephants destroy thousands of dollars鈥� worth of crops each year,鈥�
says Loki Osborn, the Cambridge zoologist. The problem is also increasing in
Africa, says Osborn, as elephants are attracted to this rich source of food.
Advertisement
On both continents, the traditional way of combating the problem is to try to
frighten the animals away by shouting at them, beating drums and throwing rocks.
Elephants that raid crops are also shot. 鈥淚n Zimbabwe, at least a hundred
elephants are killed each year during problem animal control actions,鈥� Osborn
says, 鈥渂ut this does little to reduce crop damage.鈥�
Osborn is working with Jack Birochak, an inventor based at Valley Forge,
Pennsylvania, who has developed pepper sprays to deter grizzly bears. The spray
can holds around 1 kilogram of a mixture of chilli pepper and oil. Because of
the obvious difficulties of operating a spray can close to a wild elephant,
Birochak is developing a compressed air launcher that can throw the can as far
as 200 metres. The launcher is aimed at an area near the elephants, and when the
can hits the ground it begins spraying. Alternatively, it can be set to start
spraying in mid-air.
Tests on wild elephants in Zimbabwe have shown that pepper spray does work.
鈥淭he elephant, with its long nose lined with mucous membrane, has one of the
most acute鈥攁nd sensitive鈥攕enses of smell in the animal kingdom,鈥�
Osborn says. In the tests, he says, the elephants would first freeze, then blow
their noses before leaving quickly. The chilli causes no permanent harm.
Osborn hopes that tests of the compressed air launcher this spring in
Cambridge will prove that the system is reliable. 鈥淭he next step will be to test
it on elephants in Zimbabwe this summer.鈥�
