Hyraxes killing my fruit trees!!

[Petra Pancake]

They are kind of a Middle East and Africa problem. Hyraxes/ rock dassies, brown rodents who live between rocks and are excellent climbers, including tree-climbers. They themselves look like ear-less rabbits and they make trees look as if a swarm of locusts just came through. In the last few days they've taken to killing my once beautiful 3 m high cherry tree. They just eat off every single leaf and shoot and the small branches and leave nothing but a tree skeleton.
Other victims in my garden are an almond tree and a strawberry guava tree.

Any idea what to do about them? I can't shoot them, that's not legal. I can't put out poison because the rocks where they live are outside our fence in public ground and half the neighborhood kids playing there.
Are there any passive protective measures? I've tried putting chicken wire around the tree stems half way up like an inverted umbrella or apron but they get through that or around it. They are really extremely gifted climbers.
Is there anything in the world that deters them? Any smell or noise or something?

They are so brazen that they're not even afraid of humans. I've walked up to them and thrown rocks at them. They just move one step to the side and then sit down again and stare at me insolently while chewing the cud! I hate them!

 

[Trish1974]

I've never heard of such a creature! I had to google it! Would it be possible to put a few strands of electric fencing around your garden? Since you can't shoot or put out poison I think that may be your only option. Sorry you are losing your trees!

 

[Redhead Rae]

Can you put wire cages around your trees and put a flat disk on the top of the cage so they can't climb over it? (like an inverted stove pipe hat with no top).

 

[DrFeathers]

Pellet gun?
Wrap tree trunks in a ring of the spike strips they put on top of signs so pigeons won’t land there?

Funny I never would have thought of the tiny elephants as a pest...

 

[Petra Pancake]

Thanks for your replies. I'll try more mechanical measures like wire cages. Anti-pigeon spikes sound great as well. Have to see where to get them. Electric fencing is a problem because of my small kids climbing around on the inside and everyone else's kids on the outside.
Tiny elephants, indeed! I have to say, they compete with their big relatives in causing damages. They make up for lack of size by arriving in groups and climbing like monkeys.
I've seen them climbing around on the roof of my chicken coop as well. Just lucky they're not carnivores!

 

[DrFeathers]

I was reading somewhere that they are omnivores and would eat eggs from wild bird nests if given the opportunity? That may need to be verified but I would make sure your coop is secure

 

[Petra Pancake]

@DrFeathers , I haven't heard that before, but you make me think. I have suspected for a while that eggs are vanishing. For an example, I didn't collect for a few days and there were about 10 eggs in the box and then they vanished. I thought the chickens had eaten them. Maybe it wasn't them after all. Also, overall I'm getting fewer eggs than expected lately. Thought it was the weather, but hmmm....

 

[Petra Pancake]

Update, just for fun:
In the end, I've found a non-aggressive way to protect my fruit trees.
I drip mint oil on the bark every week, in addition to a wire cage around the bottom of the tree.
And I've made a "deal" with the hyraxes. I had noticed that they attacked my fruit trees especially every time after I watered them - so I guessed the smell of the water was attracting them. After all, it's quite dry here and water is hard to come by for wild animals in the summer. Now I've put out a plastic bowl with water between the hyrax lair and my trees. They use it and have already trampled a little path to it. And they have left the trees alone since. Also, no more egg losses in the chicken coop. I don't know what's the bigger part in this - the mint oil or the water bowl, but it seems to work anyway

 

[DrFeathers]

Wow! Great idea with the water bowl - you can easily imagine thirst being a motivation for an unusual animal behavior in the desert! Glad it worked out for all involved!