JACKSON, Wyo. — Wyoming Wildlife Advocates (WWA) is asking landowners to consider the non-lethal use of fladry fences, which has proven to be an efficient tool to temporarily mitigate wolf attacks in livestock areas, as an alternative way to reduce predator conflict.
Fladry includes erecting a temporary perimeter fence with red flags to flutter in the wind and scare wolves away from livestock. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), wolves instinctively fear the unfamiliarity and motion of the flags and are deterred from entering areas where the fences are present. If a wolf eventually approaches, an electric wire will act as additional repellent.
A 2018 article published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Wildlife Research Center and Montana Wildlife Services, in collaboration with the NRDC, confirmed that the novel stimulation of fladry fences can keep wolves out of a protected area for 60 to 75 days.
“Because of its reported efficacy for up to 75 days, it is best used during periods when livestock would be most vulnerable to depredation, such as the calving and lambing seasons,” the article states.
Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) has also supported the use of fladry fences as an effective tool on a temporary basis, particularly during calving season.
“It almost seems too simple to be true,” the WGFD says on their website about the effectiveness of fladry fences implemented in Jackson Hole. “While no methods are 100 percent effective, the Game and Fish will continue to work with willing landowners to implement this relatively inexpensive and nonlethal strategy for deterring wolf depredation.”
Lethal action against wolves is necessary in some cases to protect livestock and manage human-wolf conflict, but science shows that killing a wolf outside of national park boundaries still compromises pack dynamics and reduces survival rates of the keystone species. Wolves are crucial to sustaining a healthy ecosystem, says WWA, removing sick big game and reducing the spread of diseases like Chronic Wasting Disease significantly among herds.
