More fence confusion in East Africa

Mongabay published a third article in a series of 3 about protected areas in East Africa on Fences. I’ve posted on fences and thought the topic fading away into the embers of ‘don’t care anymore’. (Fences 1, Fences 2)

Mongabay’s piece goes through elephants and lions in greater depth. The key element seems captured in this snippet

Across Africa, human-wildlife conflicts like this are a growing conservation challenge, especially around protected areas like Queen Elizabeth. Nearly three-quarters of the continent’s governments say they’re a “major or serious concern,” the highest proportion of any world region. Landscapes like Queen Elizabeth look like untouched wilderness in nature documentaries or promotional materials, but they’re often surrounded by human activity. Here, elephants stand so close to the road, they look like they could be hitchhiking, and at night hippos roam in and out of some towns.

Mongabay

All fine and dandy, right? Animal / human encounters are the primary issue – whether it’s elephants eating farmer crops or lions eating cattle and goats. This issue gets exacerbated by increasing animal populations – especially elephants – which is GOOD news!

The authors put together a nifty graphic to tell the story of these encounters and why something has to be done

Here’s the key confusion, at least for me.

I get it that fences protect cattle and crops; they also protect the animals from human retribution for the act of eating the wrong things. … This article, however, completely ignored migrations which are the biggest issue with fence installations. The topic wasn’t even brought up … so of course, if animal populations and human settlements don’t really migrate, then fences might work. Truly, how many large animals in East Africa do NOT migrate?

Photo from Mongabay, their description of why the fence has to be this way is because elephants are smart …

Meter-long (3.3-foot) “porcupine” wires protrude outward from the fence in the direction of the park. These are an engineering response to elephant ingenuity. In some places, elephants have learned that their tusks don’t conduct electricity and can therefore be used to snap the wires. They are very smart animals.

Mongabay

Featured image from MSFT CoPilot