Pronghorn antelope complete one of North America's longest land migrations, with fencing and development fragmenting their routes and creating welfare and conservation challenges.
Pronghorn welfare during migration is directly affected by fence density and design. Animals blocked by fences during migration face increasing physiological stress as they deplete energy reserves without reaching their destination. Winter migrations to lower elevation ranges are survival migrations - failure to reach them means death from starvation or cold. Pronghorn that encounter impenetrable fence lines and turn back suffer directly from the disruption. Simple fence modifications - raising the bottom wire - allow pronghorn to use their evolved low-crawling movement pattern and cost relatively little while providing major welfare and conservation benefits.