GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, birder and freelance science and nature writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning a BS in Microbiology (emphasis in Virology) and PhD in Zoology (Ornithology) from the University of Washington. In NYC, she was the Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History for two years, pursuing part of her "dream" research project by reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands. GrrlScientist has written a blog about science since 4 August 2004 (the early years are archived 
tags: leopards, cell phones, ringtones, India
A leopard plays with a rubber tire inside its cage at a leopard rescue center in Madharihut, India, May 3, 2007. Forest guards in western India are using cell phones with ringtones of cows mooing, goats bleating and roosters crowing to capture leopards that have wandered into human settlements, officials said.
Image: Rupak De Chowdhuri.
Just image this: you live in a remote village in India and late one night, you awaken to find that a hungry leopard has wandered into town, and could attack people. What do you do? If you are one of the forest guards in the state of Gujarat, you have prepared for this event by downloading special ringtones onto your cell phone that sound like cows and goats, and you will use that to lure the marauding leopard into a cage.
"The moos of a cow, bleating of a goat from the phone has proved effective to trap leopards," said D. Vasani, a senior forest official in Gujarat. "This trick works."
Vasani said forest guards have downloaded the sounds of over a dozen animals as ringtones on their cell phones that they attach to speakers and fix behind a cage. They then play the ringtones continuously for up to two hours until the curious leopard investigates the cage looking for an easy meal.
So far, five leopards have been safely removed from villages since the new ringtone method was introduced a month ago. The big cats have all been released back into forested areas. Wildlife activists praised the new technique saying that previous methods of trapping the big cats using deep pits often resulted in the animals becoming injured.
Cited story.
Comments
Superb! Mobile phones - increasing the risk of driving accidents but reducing the risk of leopard attacks.
Posted by: Ed Yong | June 5, 2007 3:00 PM
What are the chances of me keeping a cell phone in a remote village in India... where there is no electricity, no phone lines, no proper water supply.... and guess what "I have a cell phone" - But I know what these people in these remote villages are good at - wrestling... now that can get any leopard
Posted by: Vivian Aranha | June 5, 2007 3:39 PM
Modern technology meets nature-Sounds like the cell phone does a better job of getting a leopard in to a cage than it does for getting my kids home on time.
Posted by: Larry | June 5, 2007 9:04 PM
No doubt this clever technology will be used to lure other large cats, like tigers, within shooting range of poachers (if it hasn't happened already).
Posted by: chris wemmer | June 5, 2007 10:46 PM