This is the third story in the Mongabay Series – Protected Areas in East Africa. Read Part One and Two. KIKORONGO, Uganda — What do you do if you’re neighbors with an elephant? In western Uganda, the answer is: You build a fence. And not just any fence. One that can deliver a big, powerful zap. At least, if you want your crops to make it to harvest. A fence like that is just what they have here on the road leading from Kikorongo to Kasese, a small trading city at the foot of the Rwenzori Mountains. It runs alongside a two-lane highway leading south from Kasese toward the Democratic Republic of Congo, about an hour’s drive from here. On one side of the fence, there are small houses and farms with garden plots of yams, beans, potatoes and other crops. On the other, Queen Elizabeth National Park, a 1,978-square-kilometer (768-square-mile) wilderness packed with herds of African elephants, lions, hippos, buffalo and other species. These are big animals, and they don’t always get along smoothly with their human neighbors. This fence, which delivers a punishing electric shock to anything that touches it, is one of the ways park authorities here are trying to deal with that problem. “Once an elephant has tested its power, it will never come back,” said Selvest Masereka, an assistant warden with the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), standing proudly next to a stretch of fencing near Kikorongo. Crop-raiding, primarily by elephants, has become a major issue…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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