Student makes siren drone to chase away tuskers

Jhapa, Oct. 19

A student in Jhapa district has developed a siren drone that chases elephants away. 

Anil Pradhan, a grade 12 student, of Bhadrapur Municipality -1 had built the drone at his home and successfully tested it in chasing elephants. 

"Wild elephants always troubled the villagers in my locality. People were scared of the elephants as many members of the society were killed by the animals in the past," he said. "The events motivated me to study the situation and develop a solution to the trouble."

When Anil found that the elephants were most scared of the bee humming, he installed the sound in the drone. It also features a red light as well. 

According to him, when the drone went near the elephants with the sound of a humming of bees, elephants ran to the jungles making loud and frightened sound. 

As the remote of the drone works as far as five kilometres, the users of the machine can operate it safely from a sizable distance so that the wild animals do not harm them. 

Chief of the Division Forest Office in Jhapa Bishnu Lal Ghimire said that the drone was successfully tested in chasing the wild elephants. "The machine has proved itself as the most effective method in chasing away the elephants without huge cost and damage."

Anil has tested his innovation in presence of the officers of the DFO and local people on Thursday and Friday where the drone chased away seven elephants from Duwagadhi of Mechi Municipality on Thursday night and five elephants from Jalthal of Bhadrapur Municipality on Friday night.

Anil has developed an interest in computer and electronics which was his childhood hoppy as well.

Bhadrapur Municipality has recognized Anil's talent and provided him economic support. The drone carries the name 'Bhadrapur Municipality Siren Drone'. 

The drone was prepared at cost of about Rs. 250,000. 

Jhapa in the eastern Nepal is the district most affected by wild elephants. Although multiple programmes were implemented to reduce the damage, they failed to deliver satisfactory results. 

About 152 km area – from south-east Kachankawal Rural Municipality to east-north Mechi Municipality's Bahundangi – is announced as the Elephant Corridor. About 43 km has been protected with fencing while work is going on at other area. 

Wild elephants have so far killed 39 people in the district.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 20 October 2019 (Originally written by Tikaram Upreti).