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Electric fences

Electric fences, if strong enough and properly installed, can be extremely effective at excluding carnivores from a wide variety of situations including farms, beehives, refuse containers, food stores, buildings and campsites. There are a variety of fence types available. Key features of design include the number, height and spacing of wires, type of energizer and the effectiveness of grounding. Ideally, there should be 4 or more wire strands no more than 30 cm apart. The bottom wire should be no more than 20 cm above the ground. The top wire does not need to be more than 1 to 1.5 metres high.

Refuse, food stores, buildings

Refuse containers, food stores, kitchens and other buildings at risk of attracting bears can be protected from unwanted visitors using electric fencing. This is how refuse containers and recreational buildings in Poland have been secured, for example around Morské Oko in the High Tatras, where they have proven to be very effective.

Beehives

Beehives should be located at least 1 metre inside the fence. To protect the energizer and battery from theft or damage, they can be placed inside the fence. Additional protection against theft can be provided by putting the energizer and battery inside a hive body modified to exclude bees, with active hives placed on top.

Livestock

Electric fences can be very effective at protecting flocks of sheep and cattle. A successful project in Romania uses a Euroguard A3500 energizer, which releases high voltage (5000-8000V) electric impulses (max. 1/sec) to the conducting wires. Plastic insulators are used to mount 5 wires to wooden posts at heights of 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100cm. A 60-70cm metal bar is used for grounding and the system also has a lightning rod to protect the energizer. Power is supplied by a 100W car battery. Livestock quickly learn to avoid the electrified wires, but should be watched intially after installation to prevent damage to the fence.

More:

"Practical electric fencing resource guide: controlling predators"
"Carnivore Damage Prevention News 5"