Escalating human elephant conflict (HEC) continues to be a contributing factor
towards elephant decline, and crop raiding is the most common form of negative
human-elephant interactions. For communities that cannot reverse or prevent crop
raiding, it is necessary to contain HEC events through deterrent measures. Few
deterrent measures exist that combine practicality and affordability while also
preventing habituation by elephants. This project focused on comparing the efficacy of
deterrent methods to assess which was the most successful at preventing elephants
from entering crops in the farming community of Sasenyi, Kenya. In this paired-control
study, four deterrent methods were evaluated: acacia fences, chili-pepper fences, a
new metal strip fence, and a combination of a chili and metal strip fence. Of the over
400 visits by elephants to individual fields containing crops recorded during two field
seasons, elephants entered farmer fields in the experimental area on 33 occasions
(<10%). Analysis of incidents when elephants approached at less than 50 m revealed
that the chili + metal fence and the metal fence were significantly more effective than
no deterrent. Following further verification of its effectiveness, this new deterrent
method could be a powerful new tool to alleviate elephant crop raiding and reduce HEC.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:WKU/oai:digitalcommons.wku.edu:theses-4073 |
| Date | 01 July 2018 |
| Creators | Von Hagen, Rebecca Lynn |
| Publisher | TopSCHOLAR® |
| Source Sets | Western Kentucky University Theses |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Masters Theses & Specialist Projects |
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