Pronghorns undertake one of North America's longest land mammal migrations, and their welfare is threatened by fencing that blocks traditional routes and forces dangerous detours or fatal entanglement.
Pronghorn welfare is acutely affected by the cumulative fencing burden across their migration routes. Individual animals attempting to cross standard livestock fences face the welfare choice of becoming entangled in barbed wire or being denied access to seasonal forage. Entanglement causes acute suffering and high mortality. At the population level, fencing that effectively blocks migration routes causes starvation when animals cannot access winter range or spring forage. The management solution, modifying existing fencing with pronghorn-friendly designs including raised bottom wires and smooth wire replacements for barbed wire, is relatively low-cost and highly effective. Advocacy for fence modification programs in public land management policies addresses welfare at the landscape scale needed for migratory species.