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Rome (AFP) July 19, 2010 Relief is in sight for African farmers struggling to fend off ravenous elephants and other wildlife looking for a free lunch in their fields, the UN food agency said Monday. "To the family concerned, the loss of a patch of maize to raiding elephants can mean the loss of their food supply for a year, the difference between self-sufficiency and being destitute," the Food and Agriculture Organisation noted. The Rome-based agency has begun testing a series of guides containing effective dissuasive measures, such as using pepper against elephants, live snakes against baboons and a "guard donkey" to scare off lions and cheetahs, the FAO said in a statement. The Worldwide Fund for Nature and other wildlife experts helped prepare the advice in the hope of reducing retaliatory measures by villagers whose lives and livelihoods are increasingly threatened by the animals, especially in Africa. The price to pay for inaction on the issue "could be the progressive loss of wildlife as we know it across much of Africa," said Rene Czudek, an FAO forestry and wildlife officer. A trademarked plastic gun that fires ping-pong balls containing a highly concentrated chili solution has proven to be effective against elephants, the FAO said. Another way is to burn bricks made of elephant dung laced with ground pepper on the edges of the fields, sending up irritating fumes. Baboons can be deterred with loaves of bread containing snakes -- "preferably alive" -- while a guard donkey will likely keep away lions and cheetahs. Donkeys "are fearless and can drive even large carnivores away by braying, biting and kicking," the FAO said. For crocodiles -- blamed for some 300 deaths per year in Mozambique alone -- the booklets suggest the more mundane solution of erecting strong fencing. Hippos are notoriously unpredictable and might charge the farmer instead of running off, but "may be deterred by shining a strong light in their eyes," the booklet says.
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