spectr17
11-06-2001, 11:07 PM
Iron Fences Imperil Deer
BY BRENT ISRAELSEN, THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
### ###Spiked, wrought-iron fences may add a pleasing Gothic touch to many an east-bench estate, but they can be a wall of suffering and death for deer.
### ###Chased by prey or spooked by automobiles, the deer often are forced to leap the fences, sometimes impaling themselves on the spearlike structures.
### ###The latest occurred about a week ago when a deer got hung up on a 5-foot-high wrought-iron fence surrounding the Fort Douglas Cemetery. The badly injured doe had to be shot by a wildlife officer.
### ###Each year, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources pulls about a half-dozen dead deer from wrought-iron fences in Salt Lake County, said Sgt. Scott White, an agency law enforcement officer.
### ###But that number does not tell the whole story.
### ###"We obviously don't hear about a lot of them," White said, explaining that some homeowners likely pull the deer off the fences themselves and haul them away or to the side of the road where the carcasses are more visible for removal.
### ###In other cases, a deer may injure itself on the fence but walk away to die elsewhere.
### ###Considering that hundreds of deer die annually in a variety of accidents in the so-called "urban-wildland interface," White said impalements are "not that big of a problem."
### ###However, it is one that can be minimized.
### ###"My advice to decrease impalements is to have shorter or taller fences," White said.
### ###He recommends that wrought-iron fences be either 4 feet or 8 feet high. Deer can almost always clear a 4-foot fence without injury and usually will not try to jump an 8-foot one.
### ###Five- and 6-foot fences, which are the most popular to homeowners, also are the most dangerous because those heights are within the upper range of a deer's leaping ability.
### ###The March 2001 edition of "My Deer Garden," an online newsletter, advises against wrought-iron fences altogether, noting deer not only can become impaled but can get stuck between the iron bars.
### ###The newsletter says an ideal deer fence is a solid wood fence that the animal cannot see through.
### ###"If deer can see through or over the top of the fence they will try to get to the other side," states the newsletter.
### ###It suggests vegetation can be used next to fences to act as a visual barrier.
### ###Wooden rail fences are effective, too, White said. So are chainlink fences that have a cross rail along the top.
BY BRENT ISRAELSEN, THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
### ###Spiked, wrought-iron fences may add a pleasing Gothic touch to many an east-bench estate, but they can be a wall of suffering and death for deer.
### ###Chased by prey or spooked by automobiles, the deer often are forced to leap the fences, sometimes impaling themselves on the spearlike structures.
### ###The latest occurred about a week ago when a deer got hung up on a 5-foot-high wrought-iron fence surrounding the Fort Douglas Cemetery. The badly injured doe had to be shot by a wildlife officer.
### ###Each year, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources pulls about a half-dozen dead deer from wrought-iron fences in Salt Lake County, said Sgt. Scott White, an agency law enforcement officer.
### ###But that number does not tell the whole story.
### ###"We obviously don't hear about a lot of them," White said, explaining that some homeowners likely pull the deer off the fences themselves and haul them away or to the side of the road where the carcasses are more visible for removal.
### ###In other cases, a deer may injure itself on the fence but walk away to die elsewhere.
### ###Considering that hundreds of deer die annually in a variety of accidents in the so-called "urban-wildland interface," White said impalements are "not that big of a problem."
### ###However, it is one that can be minimized.
### ###"My advice to decrease impalements is to have shorter or taller fences," White said.
### ###He recommends that wrought-iron fences be either 4 feet or 8 feet high. Deer can almost always clear a 4-foot fence without injury and usually will not try to jump an 8-foot one.
### ###Five- and 6-foot fences, which are the most popular to homeowners, also are the most dangerous because those heights are within the upper range of a deer's leaping ability.
### ###The March 2001 edition of "My Deer Garden," an online newsletter, advises against wrought-iron fences altogether, noting deer not only can become impaled but can get stuck between the iron bars.
### ###The newsletter says an ideal deer fence is a solid wood fence that the animal cannot see through.
### ###"If deer can see through or over the top of the fence they will try to get to the other side," states the newsletter.
### ###It suggests vegetation can be used next to fences to act as a visual barrier.
### ###Wooden rail fences are effective, too, White said. So are chainlink fences that have a cross rail along the top.