Sanctuary gets $48,000 to test elephant repellent

[MORTARDUDE]

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/story_ark...?storyid=41224 Sanctuary gets $48,000 to test elephant repellent
BY MICHELLE HILLEN ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT GAZETTE

Posted on Tuesday, September 9, 2003

GUY ? Admitting that some might call it "foreign aid to elephants," U.S. Rep. Vic Snyder announced Monday a $48,000 federal grant for a repellent to keep elephants from plundering crops in foreign countries.

The grant, part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service?s Asian Elephant Conservation Fund, will pay for overseas testing of a device designed in Arkansas at Riddle?s Elephant and Wildlife Sanctuary in Guy.

The movable mechanical device is 7 feet wide, 10 feet long and one foot off the ground. When touched, it emits a nontoxic chemical odor that elephants find so unpleasant that they walk away from even the most-tempting treat, said Scott Riddle, executive director of the sanctuary. The sanctuary was created in 1989 as a home for unwanted elephants from circuses, zoos and private companies.

The average elephant, which needs to consume about 200 pounds of food a day, can make short work of any crop it finds appetizing, Riddle said.

That leads to elephant/human conflict, which is ranked as the No. 2 threat endangering the survival of elephants in the wild, he said.

Habitat loss is considered the greatest threat, while poaching ranks third. "The elephants go looking for food and go into croplands that may be in areas where they used to graze before," said Riddle. "The local people try to drive the elephants off, which can lead to loss of life for both sides."

The elephant repellent, developed in conjunction with Bets Rasmussen, a biochemist and elephant expert from Oregon Health and Sciences University, is an "almost top secret formula," said Riddle, declining to identify the plant extracts used to create it.

One ingredient it doesn?t contain is hot pepper juice, which was originally tested but was rejected after the discovery that one of the 13 elephants at Riddle?s "eats [hot peppers] like they are Jujubees," Riddle said.

After more than four years of testing, it was determined that scents alone aren?t enough to discourage elephants. "We finally concluded that maybe one aspect is not going to make it," Riddle said. "Maybe chemicals by themselves, or clanging bells or an electric fence won?t work. It may be a combination of techniques."

That?s when the researchers started working with Richard Becker, head of construction at Riddle, to develop a device to release the chemicals.

Tested on a field of sorghum at the sanctuary, even the clever, circus-trained elephants turned heel from the sweet, tasty treat, said Becker. "They backed away," he said. "They didn?t want any part of it."

Now that it has passed multiple tests on the animals at the sanctuary, the device will be tested on wild elephants in a controlled setting on a 40- to 50-acre village in southern India that has been plagued by elephants. "It may not work. Elephants can surprise you sometimes," said Riddle. "But if it does work, I think it is going to have a dramatic effect on the human/elephant conflict, not only in Asia, but in Africa too. We hope to see this spread," Riddle said.

The device?s potential in resolving that conflict and helping preserve wild elephants makes it worthy of a grant from the U.S. government, said Snyder, D-Ark. "Some people are going to say we have education needs in Arkansas, we have agricultural needs in Arkansas, why are we spending money on elephants?" he said. "In the grand scheme of things, this is a small amount of money, and for a small amount of money, there is a lot of good will."