Hot pepper to ward off elephants
Conservationists in northeastern India are using the world's hottest chile peppers, known as ghost chilies, to protect villages from bands of elephants. Elephant attacks on human encampments appear to be on the rise as humans continue clear-cutting the elephants' natural habitats. As a result, villagers have taken to poisoning the elephants. To stop this killing, wildlife experts are considering more creative solutions. From the Associated Press:
Conservationists working on the experimental project in Assam state said they have put up jute fences made of strong vegetable fiber and smeared them with automobile grease and bhut jolokia chilies...Link
"We fill straw nests with pungent dry chili and attach them to sticks before burning it. The fireball emits a strong pungent smell that succeeds in driving away elephants," Nandita Hazarika of the Assam Haathi (Elephant) Project told the Associated Press on Monday.
Hazarika said the elephants would not eat the chilies because the smell would be enough to repel them. He emphasized the measures would not harm the animals.
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I was lucky enough to get my hands on some seeds and grew my very own ghost chillies this year. The last of them are just turning red and when they are all ready I plan to make some kicking sauce.
There is no doubt in my mind that burning these chillies could ward off elephants. They are by far the hottest thing I have ever tasted and just handling them makes your fingers go numb.
Well, I wanted to log in to post this, but evidently it's broken. Hrmph.
Anyway: This is also a problem with African elephants -- I spent September in Zimbabwe working on an animal conservation project, part of which involved the beginnings of an elephant chili pepper project (prior to contrary belief, ghost chili's not necessary ... elephants have an insanely sensitive sense of smell, regular chili's work just fine). One of the things they do is mix chili paste in with elephant dung and set that on fire. (Elephant repellent dung bombs? gotta love that...)
They make a huge difference. One of the farmers we spoke with went from losing 80% of his crops to elephants to maybe 10-15%. Other farmers who hadn't implemented the chilis yet hadn't harvested a crop in 3 years -- and Zimbabwe's in the middle of a pretty awful food shortage right now. Forget about saving the elephants lives... this is saving the peoples lives.
I always cheer on the animals in such situations. There just aren't enough organized animal uprisings against humans.