Pronghorns are the fastest land animal in the Western Hemisphere but are blocked by fences across their migration routes, causing welfare harm through exhaustion, injury, and starvation.
Pronghorn welfare during migration is compromised by the density of livestock fencing across their ancestral routes. When fences block passage, pronghorns spend energy pacing fence lines, become vulnerable to predators while exhausted, and may fail to reach critical seasonal forage. Entanglement injuries cause painful lacerations and impaired locomotion. The solution is elegantly practical: raising the bottom wire of existing fences from ground level to 46 cm allows pronghorn passage while maintaining livestock containment. Programs systematically modifying fences along critical corridors have documented dramatic improvements in pronghorn movement success.