Elephants outwit chilli pepper trick

Friday, March 14, 2025 | 480 Views |

In the news: Incidents of encounters between humans and elephants are on the rise again

The country’s elephants have found a way around a low-cost method adopted by farmers in 2015 of using chilli pepper smoke to drive them away. Authorities now say a mixture of methods, some expensive, is the only way to reduce human elephant conflicts, writes MBONGENI MGUNI

At the time, the chilli pepper method was hailed as an affordable method to reduce human elephant conflict.

Starting around 2015, farmers in the North West began mixing chilli pepper with elephant dung to make briquettes which they then burnt. Lit at night when elephant destruction is more prevalent, the briquettes produce a noxious smell that the animals can pick from distances and detest.

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