Assessment of the Effectiveness of Chilling Method in Mitigating Human-Elephant Conflicts in Western Serengeti, Tanzania

Abstract

This paper reveals the less known effectiveness of Chilling method in mitigating human elephant conflicts carried out in Western Serengeti, Tanzania. Two villages were involved namely Nyamburi and Bonchugu. Data were collected by using household questionnaire, focus group discussion and archive information. Data were analyzed by use of SPSS (Version 18) software.Field results indicates that; Chilling method is effective (83%)in mitigating human elephant conflicts. However, statistics for crop damaged by elephants before and after introduction of the method shows that the crops damage decreased by 25%. The most observable strengths of the method were; it control HEC without harm people and elephants, it is easy to apply (55%), it does not consume time and use appropriate technology. Despite the effectiveness of the method, major weaknesses observed to face the method were; insufficient used oil and pepper (61%), elephants observed to be a clever animal as sometimes they inter into the farms backwards and also during rain seasons, chill method observed to be ineffective as it can be washed/removed easily. However, the respondents recommended that; the challenges can be solved by local community to cultivate pepper and other stakeholders such as district, different NGO and companies to support farmers the provision of used oil, chill should be applied regularly once washed out by rain and for the effectiveness of the method community should be more trained on how to use the method.