Electric fence to prevent damages caused by wolves

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In the frame of the project “Carnivores and humans: Improving the human-wolf relationship in the Calimani and Gurghiului Mountains” (financially supported by the Romanian Environmental Partnership Foundation), we investigated several wolf attacks on sheep. The rough hilly terrain, with dense bushes makes the shepherds’ work difficult and limits the efficiency of dogs in the face of wolves, the most adaptable carnivores of these areas. On the Mount Biches hill we equipped with electric fences two local shepherd camps with significant damages. The electric fence consists of a Euroguard A3500 energizer, which releases high voltage (5000-8000 V) electric impulses (max. 1/sec) to the conducting wires which surround the shepherd camp. The wires are fixed on wood posts using plastic insulators. The soil having a good current-carrying capacity, for grounding a 60-70 cm metal bar suffices. The system also has a lightning rod to protect the energizer from lightning. The power is ensured by a 100 W car battery. Initially we mounted 3 wires in line with each other, but when testing the fence, they proved to be insufficient. Thus it was necessary to mount 5 wires at the following heights: 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 cm. At the beginning sheep had to be kept an eye on so they couldn’t tread down the fence. Soon, the animals learned to avoid contact with the wires.

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