Tsetse targets and traps with olfactory attractants
Blancos y trampas de tse-tsé con atrayentes olfativos
- Date
- c. 1970s-1980s · confidence medium
- Place
- Rekomitjie Research Station, Zambezi Valley, Mashonaland West, Zimbabwe
- Credited to
- Glyn Vale and the Tsetse Control Department team of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Blue and black cloth screens with insecticide, baited with ox-like odour (acetone, octenol, phenols), that attract and kill tsetse flies in bush habitats. They allow control of sleeping sickness and nagana without mass spraying.
Vale's work on attractants was published between the late 1970s and the 1980s; the date is indicative. Targets were developed alongside the Epsilon, Biconical and Nzi traps.
What it led to
- tsetse control in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Tanzania with impregnated targets
- an alternative to aerial spraying and culling of wildlife
- basis of the Tiny Targets campaign against sleeping sickness