Dubai: Ahmad Majjan’s latest invention will help farmers catch troublesome foxes getting into chicken coops.
The Emirati inventor says the high-tech trap will spare foxes the death or torture that is often a result of being caught in other traps. It is equipped with a video camera and equipment that can send live feeds of the fox inside the trap to the trap-keeper’s mobile phone.
But despite the technology involved in creating the trap, Majjan is not seeking to patent the technology and doesn’t seem to see much point in doing so. “If the creation changes 10 per cent you lose the patent,” he explains.
He is taking his precautions, however. Instead of selling the device, Majjan is renting the trap out at a fee of Dh50 per day for a maximum of 10 days. This way, the user won’t have a chance to take the trap apart and see how it works. If he or she removes the trap’s back panel while it’s with them, they are subject to a hefty Dh10,000 fine, Majjan says.
The trap is made up of a large cage with real chickens inside. The fox, attracted to the smell, approaches the cage, and an SMS is sent to the renter to inform them. As the fox enters the trap, an MMS is sent with a photo of the fox coming in. The renter can then call a number which will connect him to a video feed of the fox inside the trap.
The trap-keeper can then come by and pick up the fox, whose fate, for a fee of Dh350, is up to the trap-keeper, although it does get to eat the chickens.
It’s the latest in a long line of successful inventions for Majjan, and he isn’t spending too much time worrying about potential idea theft. “I have 200,000 inventions,” he says. “Let them take one.”
