Human Elephant Conflict

BACKGROUND

Human wildlife conflict have been a big challenge in In Northern Tanzania due increase people population while the land is fixed. The pressure on elephant populations is further compounded by rapidly expanding human populations, who depend on access to the same land and resources to support livestock and agriculture activities as wildlife do. This continued expansion and encroachment has led to a struggle between wildlife conservation, agricultural development and food security. HWC, due to crop destruction by herbivories and livestock predation by carnivores, has a significant negative impact on individual financial stability and fuels negative views of conservation. Not only does HWC adversely affect rural development, but also exerts increased pressures on already threatened wildlife populations. Due this Honeyguide had to Develop and test various mechanisms to prevent and deter human-wildlife conflict where Honeyguide came up with a toolkit with combination of Torch, Horn, Chill, Fire cracker and roman candle.

DESCRIPTION

HWC toolkit was developed to help communities adjacent to protected area. The toolkit contained a combination of Torch, Horn, Fire cracker and Roman candle. The toolkit is used sequentially. More than 1200 individual were trained within Tarangire - manyara ecosystem and Kilimanjaro - Amboseli ecosystem. The Aim of this toolkit is Sensory Irritants (Audible, Visual, Nasal, Physical), and Mobile Vehicles Deterrent. Most equipment's for the toolkit are available locally.

PRINCIPLE

The toolkit is applied sequentially to avoid use misuse of expensive resource while simple are available. So we start with Torch(light)> Horn(sound)> Fire cracker( Sound and Chill) > Roman candle(strong light, flash flash, sound)

CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS

The toolkit must be used sequentially

- Implementation
1.3.2 LED Flashlights

Most communities faced with crop-raiding elephants and other wild animals use flashlights or other lights as basic deterrents. These can have marginal success in deterring some animals, but rarely elephants. New high-powered lighting technologies, however, have become readily available and more affordable in East Africa. Honeyguide has favored various lights in OLight’s (https://olightworld.com/home) Intimidator series and has found them to be effective when used by either community volunteers or wildlife scouts to chase elephants off of farms.

OLight LED IntimidatorCommunity volunteer with LED flashlight

Use & Implementation: Lights can easily be used by community volunteers and with minimal training, thus increasing the reach and impact of a given HWC intervention program. Honeyguide found that the lights worked best when in a strobe setting and when aimed directly at the eyes of elephants. While this intervention is the first in a series used by Honeyguide, it did turn around elephants, particularly juveniles and females, in the vast majority of instances.

Location:Used at the farm directly in front of the elephants (safe distance of 15m minimum).

Timing: Like all interventions in Honeyguide’s HEC Toolkit, high-powered LED lights are best used in deterring elephants before they animals enter a given farm but, if not, are used immediately when elephants are encountered.


Pros:
· Low-level intervention with proven success

· Higher success with non-elephant crop raiders

· Variable success with elephants, especially juveniles and females

· Easily used by community member volunteers with minimal training

· Easy to cover vast areas with volunteers and flashlights


Cons:
· Elephants might easily adapt to lights and not view them as deterrents

· Some bull elephants already shown to be undeterred by lights

· Lights, if in the wrong hands, could be used for poaching

· Year-round upkeep and maintenance of lights required


Additional Considerations:Honeyguide currently loans lights to villages during the farming season and has a basic contract with them to do so.This empowers villages both to do the work of HWC prevention and to look after the tools provided in doing so, but also allows them to have an organization securely store the tools in the off-season.


1.3.3 Air horns

Honeyguide uses this as its second deterrent when directly confronting elephants and it is often used in tandem with the lights, thus causing a simultaneous auditory and visual irritants for elephants and other animals.


Airhorn used for HEC prevention

Use & Implementation:

Air horns are often available in East African countriesfor costs of less than 10% of the LED lights. They also require minimal training for volunteers and scouts and have limited risk.

Location: Again, used at the farm itself during an encounter with crop-raiding animals.

Timing: Best used in tandem with LED strobe lights.



Pros:

· Inexpensive at about $10 USD per horn

· Requires minimal training to use, thus easily adopted by communities

· Success in deterring elephants proven, especially when with lights


Cons:

· Again, elephants might easily adapt to horns and not be deterred


Additional Considerations:In Enduimet WMA alone, Honeyguide used the lights and horn in tandem a total of 234 times and hundreds of other times in other areas. At the risk of belaboring the point, the tandem use is optimal.



1.3.4 Chili Clouds

A Honeyguide innovation, chili clouds combine auditory and physical deterrents via chili powder and firecrackers. Honeyguide has experimented with chili clouds for more than four years but used them more systematically with PREPARED funding in 2015. Honeyguide used more than 500 chili clouds in Enduimet WMA alone and hundreds of others in additional protected areas. As the number one most used deterrent, they did show success but also showed signs of have decreasing effects on certain bull elephants.


A chili cloud

Use & Implementation: Honeyguide uses a combination of chili powder and a firecracker, all tied together in a condom, to create a chili cloud. The chili clouds are then lit and thrown above the heads of elephants. The explosive sound of the device coupled with the infamous irritant – chili powder – are well known to cause distress for elephants. Honeyguide’s particular innovation is in combining the two with inexpensive materials. Honeyguide provides training for the use of chili clouds by community volunteers. PREPARED also funded the development of a full HEC Toolkit training video. There is some risk for scouts and volunteers in using an explosive device.

Location: Best used to prevent elephants and other animals from entering the farm in the first place if possible. Best if thrown from a vehicle to get greater height of the toss above the elephants.

Timing: Used after the lights and air horn and multiple chili clouds should be thrown in succession, as a single cloud is often not enough to completely chase an elephant herd off of a farm.



Pros:

· Again, combines two known deterrents into one

· Inexpensive and easy for anyone to assemble given basic training

· Effective in deterring elephant herds if used in succession


Cons:

· Risk to the user and the elephant if used improperly

· Some bull elephants return to farm not long after being chased

· Regular higher level training required to ensure proper use

Additional Considerations:Honeyguide uses chili clouds as a midlevel deterrent that, given the lower cost, can be used extensively for the improved effects. Honeyguide has found that adding sugar to the chili powder mix adds weight to the clouds and makes them easier to control.
1.3.5 Roman Candles (with Launcher)

As a last resort, Honeyguide uses a modified roman candle firework as propelled 10-15 meters in the air by a launcher, which has been internally designed by a Honeyguide supplier. The roman candles not only cause a number of loud explosions but also accompanying extremely bright flashes. The principle here is the same as used in other HEC Toolkit interventions in that combining known elephant deterrents aims at increasing the level of their effectiveness.


Roman candle loaded in a launcher

Use & Implementation: Honeyguide reserves the use of these as a last resort, often in the cases in which bull elephants either refuse to leave a farm after all other interventions have been deployed or return to the farm not long after being chased away. Honeyguide primarily has the wildlife scouts use this tool as it has more risk and requires more training.

Location: As a last resort intervention, Honeyguide would only use roman candles when elephants have actually been able to enter the farm and refuse to exit.

Timing: Again, after all other interventions in the toolkit have been used.



Pros:

· Proven to be extremely effective even in chasing risk-taking bull elephants

· Elephants rarely return to the farm the same night after intervention is used


Cons:

· Relatively expensive at approximately $30USD per explosive

· Increased risk with larger explosion, requiring more training

· As of now, only developed by one supplier in Arusha, Tanzania



Additional Considerations:Honeyguide used Roman Candles just 30 times in Enduimet WMA over 2015 and about twice that number in other areas. This is a tool to use in extreme situations and against bull elephants in particular. After multiple seasons using the HEC toolkit, Honeyguide has required roman candles in fewer instances, perhaps being a sign of the program’s success.

1.4 Conclusions



In 2016, Honeyguide has already begun to experiment with new strategies and interventions. For example, again in collaboration with WAP, Honeyguide is developing their system for making Chili Bricks, or piles of dung, water, and chili, which surround the chili fence and are lit on fire at night to reinforce the deterrent effect. Honeyguide is further experimenting with other early warning systems to improve their ability to prevent crop raids before they even begin.

With several protected areas in East Africa showing increasing signs of HWC and retaliatory killings of wild animals,Honeyguide now guides nearly 500 HWC officers and community volunteers, more than five times the number of anti-poaching wildlife scouts they support.Honeyguide’s drive to constantly adapt and experiment with interventions and methodologies embodies the necessary long-term commitment to successfully manage HEC season after season

This initiative does not have a video yet