After Botswana, Nepal tries artificial scent marking to fend big cats off villages

KATHMANDU — In an innovative experiment, Nepal has been testing artificial scent marking to deter big cats from venturing into villages and grazing lands. In March 2025, a Bengal tiger followed a forest trail through Khata Corridor until it reached a small iron stake near the path, where a dispenser released a laboratory-made chemical mimicking big cats' territorial scent markers.

A camera trap recorded the curious cat approaching the station, suggesting the scent stations may be influencing the big cats' behavior. Similar encounters have been observed with leopards and snow leopards, providing early insights into the experiment's potential effectiveness. However, researchers caution that a tiger turning away from the station does not yet conclusively prove the method's ability to prevent livestock attacks.

Martin Gilbert, a wildlife veterinarian and associate professor at Cornell University, emphasized that while the experiment is still in its early stages, it raises a fundamental question about whether these compounds can reliably alter predator behavior. Across Nepal's buffer-zone settlements, communities have been grappling with encounters with tigers, leopards, and snow leopards, leading to the adoption of various deterrents such as electric fences and flashing lights to protect livestock and human settlements.