Pronghorns are the fastest land animal in the Western Hemisphere, but they are unable to jump fences. Barbed wire fencing across their range causes injuries, deaths, and migration blockages that harm individual and population welfare.
Fence-related pronghorn welfare harms include acute injuries and chronic population-level effects. Animals attempting to crawl under fences with barbed bottom wire suffer deep lacerations and can become entangled, dying slowly from exhaustion or predation. Migration blockages cause animals to overcrowd available range, degrading habitat and causing starvation in poor forage years. Simple fence modifications — raising the bottom wire to 18 inches and replacing barbed with smooth wire — cost little to implement and dramatically reduce both injury rates and migration barriers. Collaborative programs between ranchers and conservation organizations have modified thousands of miles of fence with measurable wildlife benefits.