Pronghorns are North America's fastest land mammal and undertake one of the continent's most remarkable migrations. Infrastructure development is fragmenting their ancient migration corridors with significant welfare consequences.
Pronghorn welfare is intimately connected to their ability to complete seasonal migrations between summer and winter range. Infrastructure barriers — fences, roads, energy development, and urban areas — fragment the ancient corridors pronghorns have followed for thousands of years. When migration routes are blocked, pronghorns cannot access winter forage or summer nutritional resources, leading to malnutrition, increased disease susceptibility, and mortality in severe winters. The pronghorn's inability to jump conventional fences means that even a single fence line across a migration corridor can halt movement of entire local populations. Wildlife-friendly fence modifications — smooth bottom wires raised 18 inches and top wires lowered — are inexpensive and allow pronghorns to slide under while maintaining livestock containment. Identifying and protecting critical bottleneck areas in pronghorn migration routes is one of the most effective welfare and conservation investments for this species. Sagebrush ecosystem conservation simultaneously benefits pronghorn, sage grouse, and numerous other species.