Wildlife Friendly Fencing is fencing that is safe and effective for wildlife, people and livestock.

  • does not entangle or harm wildlife
  • allows the safe free movement of wildlife across rural and urban landscapes
  • prevents unsafe movement of wildlife
  •  may mean no fence at all

For livestock and people – put most simply, an effective fence is one which is high enough to prevent animals bearing down on it, flexible enough with a mesh of wires to prevent them putting their heads through it, and close enough to the ground to prevent them pushing underneath…… Good stock control is possible without the use of barbed wire. The Kondinin survey

For wildlife – Some of the solutions are specific to a particular species as shown in the images below, others have a more universal application as seen in this drop-down menu. Flying and gliding animals have different issues to terrestrial animals though they can all be victims of the top strand. Our survey in 2009 reported that 86% of entanglements are on the top strand, 95% on the top two strands. Ideally all fences would have a top strand of non-barbed wire, though this is not enough to save macropods (kangaroos etc) or emus getting hung up in fences that are too hight for them to jump. Read about the new barbless wire that we hope will drastically reduce the number of entanglements for flying/gliding animals.

This frog friendly fence was designed to stop frogs from moving from the right right of this fence to the left where there is a motorway. It has a rolled section at the top of the shadecloth that prevents frogs from climbing over. Built by Fencescape Fencing on the Sunshine Coast in south east Queensland.

This barrier method for koala friendly fencing excludes them from an unsafe motorway. Built by Fencescape Fencing on the Sunshine Coast.

A wombat friendly gate in a fence.  Watch the video  of a wombat using the gate from the Wombat Protection Society.

Macedon Ranges Wildlife Network have an excellent Wildlife-Friendly-Fencing-Brochure brochure that includes macropod fencing.

Exclusion fencing – friendly or not?

Exclusion fencing is any kind of sturdy, meshed fencing – typically around 1.5 metres high but sometimes up to 2.4 metres (8 feet) – that prevents the movement of animals from one area to another. It is commonly used to lessen unwanted economic losses caused by wildlife/feral animals. This includes grazing pressure from kangaroos, predation by dingos and wild dogs on lambs, and crop-raiding by emus and pigs. It can also be used to protect ecologically sensitive areas without harm to wildlife if targeted and not widespread.

However there is increasing concern that exclusion fencing is becoming sturdier and longer than ever, fencing larger and larger areas off from wildlife. Fence boundary checks become few and far between and trapped animals are rarely found and assisted before much suffering and slow death.  While the potential for agricultural, ecological and economic benefits of wildlife exclusion are often apparent, what is less clear are the costs and benefits to sympatric non-target wildlife.

The ethics of this style of fencing lies in its design and the intended/unintended consequences to wildlife.

Across Australia, fencing is used to mark the perimeter of properties and control the movement of animals, including wildlife. Simple wire fencing that marks property boundaries has typically allowed at least some, if not most, movement of wildlife between different properties and environments. Now, farmers are increasingly opting for taller and stronger fences that cover enormous distances and stop the movement of all animals entirely. This is called exclusion fencing. Exclusion fencing saves farmers money, but it may cost the lives of an untold number of native wildlife, like kangaroos, as well as other free-living animals.

Impacts of exclusion fencing on target and non‐target fauna: a global review Smith, Deane and King, Rachel and Allen, Benjamin L. (2020) Biological Reviews, 95 (6). pp. 1590-1906. ISSN 1464-7931

This review examines the use of exclusion fencing in a variety of situations around the world to elucidate the potential outcomes of such fencing for wildlife and apply this knowledge to the recent uptake of exclusion fencing on livestock properties in the Australian rangelands. In Australia, exclusion fences are used to eliminate dingo (Canis familiaris dingo) predation on livestock, prevent crop-raiding by emus (Dromaius novaehollandiae), and enable greater control over total grazing pressure through the reduction of macropods (Macropodidae) and feral goats (Capra hircus). A total of 208 journal articles were examined for location, a broad grouping of fence type, and the reported effects the fence was having on the study species. We found 51% of the literature solely discusses intended fencing effects, 42% discusses unintended effects, and only 7% considers both. Africa has the highest proportion of unintended effects literature (52.0%) and Australia has the largest proportion of literature on intended effects (34.2%). We highlight the potential for exclusion fencing to have positive effects on some species and negative effects on others (such as predator exclusion fencing posing a barrier to migration of other species), which remain largely unaddressed in current exclusion fencing systems. From this review we were able to identify where and how mitigation strategies have been successfully used in the past. Harnessing the potential benefits of exclusion fencing while avoiding the otherwise likely costs to both target and non-target species will require more careful consideration than this issue has previously been afforded.