Leopards Subdued by "Mooing" Cell Phones

Kate Ravilious
for National Geographic News

June 5, 2007

Part of the Digital Places Special News Series
More Digital Places Stories>>

When leopards approach, your cell phone's ringtone could save your life, according to a new program in the western Indian state of Gujarat.

Villagers there are now using "clucking," "bleating," and "mooing" ring tones to distract the big cats and lure them away from human settlements.

By attaching a mobile phone to a cage and playing one of the animal ringtones continuously, local forest guards can lure the leopard into the trap without harm.

"The moos of a cow or bleating of a goat from the phone has proved effective," D. Vasani, a senior forest official, told the Reuters news service.

Since the new ringtone method was introduced a month ago, guards have captured five leopards and released them successfully back into forests.

Curiosity Captures the Cat

In Gujarat, leopards frequently roam into human settlements searching for easy meals.

Villages near the forests are particularly vulnerable, with farmers often losing livestock to a hungry leopard. Occasionally the big cats attack people.

(See a related photo of a leopard attack in India [January 17, 2007].)

When a leopard is spotted near a village, guards are called in to capture the animal and take it back into the forest.

But this is no easy task, since the roaming animal can weigh 66 to 176 pounds (30 to 80 kilograms) and brandishes sharp teeth and claws.

Traditionally the forest guards have used live bait—such as a goat tied to a tree—to lure the leopard into a large camouflaged hole.

As well as being unpleasant for the goat, this method can also result in injury to the leopard when it crashes into the hole.

Wildlife activists are welcoming the new ringtone initiative as a gentler approach.

"It is a lot more humane than letting the leopard fall into a trap," said Carole Baskin, founder and CEO of the nonprofit Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Florida.

Global Solution?

Gujarat isn't the only place where villagers have a problem with visiting leopards.

The most widespread of the big cats, leopards can be found in India, Africa, China, Siberia, and Korea.

They are very adaptable and live in forests, jungles, cold mountainous regions, open savannas, and even urban areas.

But many subspecies of leopard, such as the Amur leopard in Russia, are critically endangered because of reduction in habitat and competition for space with humans.

(Related photo: "Rare Leopardess Killed—Only 6 Remain" [April 23, 2007].)

As part of efforts to preserve the animals, there is hope that India's new, more humane capture technique could be applied worldwide.

But Baskin isn't convinced that capturing and re-releasing leopards is a long-term solution to the problem.

"Leopards have a huge range," she said, "so rangers are unlikely to be able to take them far enough away to prevent them from coming back again."

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