News 100% prevention of adult wild boar intrusion Improvements to commercially available chain electric fences

　The Yamaguchi Prefectural Agriculture and Forestry Technology Center has confirmed that by improving the commercially available chain electric fence that prevents pests from entering from agricultural waterways, it has a high intrusion prevention effect. Prevents electric leakage by eliminating the slack of commercially available products. After about four months of demonstration, it blocked 100% of adult wild boar invasions. In order to accommodate small wild animals, we will continue to make improvements such as adjusting the height and width of the chain. [Illustration] Before and after improvement of noren type chain electric fence

An improved noren chain electric fence that prevents wild animals from entering waterways (provided by Yamaguchi Prefecture)

The prefecture promotes the maintenance of intrusion prevention fences as a countermeasure against wild animals, but the fences installed in the waterways are broken due to accumulation of earth, sand and garbage. There is also a chain-type electric fence that hangs from above without damming up earth and sand, but if the chain becomes too slack, the chain will be submerged in water and cause an electric leak, reducing its effectiveness. The chain type is a mechanism that allows electricity to flow when a boar touches the chain. Suematsu Electronics Co., Ltd. (Yatsushiro City, Kumamoto Prefecture), which sells chain electric fences, cooperated in the demonstration test. Struts made of fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) are set up on both banks of the waterway, and chains are hung like noren curtains. Since the chain in the center of the commercial product is slack, we passed FRP rods to the left and right struts to improve the chain. The demonstration was conducted from March to June 2021 on farmland managed by Kirihata Farm, an agricultural cooperative corporation in Hofu City, central Yamaguchi Prefecture. Infrared cameras are used to monitor the number of animals entering the waterways. Targeting adult wild boars, chains were placed 15 cm above the water surface at 8 cm intervals. 11 appeared, of which 6 were repelled and 5 were wary and stayed away. However, young wild boars, nutria, raccoons, martens and other small animals invaded. Another issue is the cost involved, as an electric fence is required for each waterway. The center says, "Since we have confirmed the effect, we will consider installation methods that can handle small animals and cost reduction methods."

Japan Agricultural Newspaper