Indigenous measures developed by farmers to curb the menace of blue bull (Boselaphus tragocamelus) in district Rajsamand, Rajasthan, India

Abstract

so destructive that they eat less and waste more. Killing of the animals is difficult due to social/religious sentiments and protection provided by government under Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 which has made killing of blue bulls a punishable offence. So, local farmers of district Rajsamand have searched out and tried certain unique innovative methods by using indigenous knowledge at their village level to curb this menace. The study revealed that the most common traditional methods prevalent in Rajsamand district of Rajasthan are- use of scarecrows locally known as Odaka, live fencing of Indian spurge tree locally known as Thor (Euphorbia neriifolia L.) and Velvet mesquite locally known as Vilayati babul [Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC.] around their field boundaries , beating bells in crop fields, use of animal excreta especially of blue bull excreta is a wonderful repellent for themselves, using mixture of donkeys excreta, cow urine and other waste like rotten vegetable leaves producing foul smell to allay blue bulls, use of crackers, use of forate insecticide granules and spray of phenyl solution as repellent and making fence of reels of shining tapes like video/audio tapes around the crops fields.