‘Jumbo sound’ to scare away the jumbos!

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

A ‘jumbo sound’ to scare away the jumbos? Well it’s working in Chikkamagaluru district where the sale of hi-tech speakers has picked up of late. And not because people have all of a sudden become music lovers.

These speakers are being increasingly used to protect crops from marauding jumbos! Jumbos pose a serious threat to coffee/tea estates and even kill hapless workers here.

Farm owners tried several methods to keep them away but nothing worked. Now, they have found a new way out:

They fix powerful sound boxes to trees in their fields and connect them to sets which recreate the roar of bursting crackers, lions, tigers and even people shouting. If a farmer spots a herd of elephants, he switches on the set and scares them away.

The experiment is being emulated by other farmers in the elephant conflict zone.