Electric Fence Research Articles

Impact and Mitigation of Human-Elephant Conflict Around Kaziranga National Park, Assam, India

In some areas, Human-elephant conflict (HEC) is a key issue for conservation and sustainable rural development due to increasing habitat loss and resource competition, resulting from the climate crisis and increasing human population. This study explored perceptions and experiences of HEC by smallholder farmers in villages near Kaziranga National Park, India. Interviews were conducted with 140 households in 29 villages using a semi-structured questionnaire. Participatory risk mapping was also conducted in three villages to identify perceived risks and their severity. Respondents considered crop-eating as a considerable challenge to efficient and productive farming. HEC scored a risk index of 0.986, greater than wild buffalo and one-horned rhinoceros combined. HEC around Kaziranga National Park is mainly nocturnal and seasonal, with peak activity in winter. Mitigation was primarily traditional 'drive-away' methods of shouting and burning tires. Villagers considered elephants an embodiment of the elephant God, Ganesha, which has conservation value. The government compensation policy was known to 40% of respondents, and 75% of them believed it complex and inadequate based on their experience. Tolerance for HEC was evident; 94% of respondents expressed a desire to remain in their village. Affected farmers recommended solar-powered electric fencing and efficient compensation to reduce HEC impacts. Mitigation measures should engage farmers, build trust, and address perceptions of successful outcomes. Effective HEC mitigation is essential to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals in affected regions as well as elephant conservation.

Impact and Mitigation of Human-Elephant Conflict Around Kaziranga National Park, Assam, India

In some areas, Human-elephant conflict (HEC) is a key issue for conservation and sustainable rural development due to increasing habitat loss and resource competition, resulting from the climate crisis and increasing human population. This study explored perceptions and experiences of HEC by smallholder farmers in villages near Kaziranga National Park, India. Interviews were conducted with 140 households in 29 villages using a semi-structured questionnaire. Participatory risk mapping was also conducted in three villages to identify perceived risks and their severity. Respondents considered crop-eating as a considerable challenge to efficient and productive farming. HEC scored a risk index of 0.986, greater than wild buffalo and one-horned rhinoceros combined. HEC around Kaziranga National Park is mainly nocturnal and seasonal, with peak activity in winter. Mitigation was primarily traditional 'drive-away' methods of shouting and burning tires. Villagers considered elephants an embodiment of the elephant God, Ganesha, which has conservation value. The government compensation policy was known to 40% of respondents, and 75% of them believed it complex and inadequate based on their experience. Tolerance for HEC was evident; 94% of respondents expressed a desire to remain in their village. Affected farmers recommended solar-powered electric fencing and efficient compensation to reduce HEC impacts. Mitigation measures should engage farmers, build trust, and address perceptions of successful outcomes. Effective HEC mitigation is essential to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals in affected regions as well as elephant conservation.

Improved Monitoring of Wildlife Invasion through Data Augmentation by Extract-Append of a Segmented Entity.

Owing to the continuous increase in the damage to farms due to wild animals’ destruction of crops in South Korea, various methods have been proposed to resolve these issues, such as installing electric fences and using warning lamps or ultrasonic waves. Recently, new methods have been attempted by applying deep learning-based object-detection techniques to a robot. However, for effective training of a deep learning-based object-detection model, overfitting or biased training should be avoided; furthermore, a huge number of datasets are required. In particular, establishing a training dataset for specific wild animals requires considerable time and labor. Therefore, this study proposes an Extract–Append data augmentation method where specific objects are extracted from a limited number of images via semantic segmentation and corresponding objects are appended to numerous arbitrary background images. Thus, the study aimed to improve the model’s detection performance by generating a rich dataset on wild animals with various background images, particularly images of water deer and wild boar, which are currently causing the most problematic social issues. The comparison between the object detector trained using the proposed Extract–Append technique and that trained using the existing data augmentation techniques showed that the mean Average Precision (mAP) improved by ≥2.2%. Moreover, further improvement in detection performance of the deep learning-based object-detection model can be expected as the proposed technique can solve the issue of the lack of specific data that are difficult to obtain.

An Intelligent Animal Repellent System for Crop Protection: A Deep Learning Approach

Human Wildlife Conflicts (HWC) refers to the negative interactions between human and wild animals, with undesirable consequences both for people and their resources, on the one hand, and wildlife and their habitats on the other (IUCN 2020).HWC, caused by competition for natural resources between humans and wildlife, influences human food security and the well-being of both humans and animals. As a result of human population growth and the transformation of land use in many regions, the number of these conflicts has increased in recent decades. HWC is a significant global threat to reliable development, food security, and conservation in urban and rural landscapes alike. In general, the consequences of HWC include crop destruction, reduced agricultural productivity, competition for grazing lands and water supply, livestock predation, injury and death to humans, damage to infrastructure, etc. From farmers’ perspectives, their main concern is to protect their crops from animal intrusion and crop destruction. It is necessary to have an affordable better technique for crop protection from animal attacks. Human-wildlife conflict is on the verge of its extremity. Because of the increased deforestation and human penetration into their area, the wild animals have to roam around aimlessly and intrude into the human habitats. While considering the safety of both humans and animals, it is necessary to think and act differently than the traditional solutions (like shooting, trapping, electric fences, etc). This work presents an intelligent animal repellent system, particularly for crop protection, with the advent of some deep learning techniques. This automatic intrusion and repellent system uses the MobileNet SSD model for better performance. On detection of the hazardous animal, the system produces an alarm sound and makes an alert notification to the responsible authorities to make an awareness of the detection. This rapid way of detection makes it more human-friendly and the harmless way of repulsion makes it more animal friendly at the same time.

Efficacy of secondary electric fences at preventing direct contact among white‐tailed deer

AbstractFree‐ranging and captive cervid herds are at risk for chronic wasting disease transmission from direct contacts at fences, so we explored the use of a secondary electric fence to prevent contacts in white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Using a captive herd of white‐tailed deer in Pennsylvania, USA, we tested the efficacy of two electric fence designs (one three‐strand and one six‐strand) constructed along separate primary fence lines (each composed of 20 m of chain link and 20 m of woven wire fencing) dividing paddocks of captive deer. From June to November 2019, we conducted three trials of variable lengths to assess how season, age, and sex impacted behavior and motivation of deer to breach the electric fence. When no electric fence was in place, we observed 117 direct contacts through woven wire and chain link fences. With the electric fences in place, we observed electric fence breaches (which led to direct contact between deer) by weaned fawns (37 breaches, 4 direct contacts) and males in the mid‐ and late‐rut (2 breaches, 1 direct contact). The majority of breaches occurred across the three‐strand‐fence. Our results suggest that no style of primary fence alone is sufficient to prevent direct contacts and that the addition of a secondary, properly designed electric fence constructed along the primary fence of captive white‐tailed deer facilities could prevent direct contact between captive and free‐ranging deer.

Height and tension of electric lines: how should an electric fence be installed to effectively mitigate human-wildlife conflict?

Height and tension of electric lines: how should an electric fence be installed to effectively mitigate human-wildlife conflict?

Electric shock control of farmed animals: Welfare review and ethical critique

AbstractThe available methods of electric shock control or containment of farmed animals are increasing and potentially include: (i) fixed and movable electric fencing; (ii) cattle trainers; (iii) prods or goads; (iv) wires in poultry barns; (v) dairy collecting yard backing gates; (vi) automated milking systems (milking robots); and (vii) collars linked to virtual fencing and containment systems. Since any electric shock is likely to cause a farmed animal pain, any such control or containment must, to be ethically justifiable, bring clear welfare benefits that cannot be practicably delivered in other ways. Associated areas of welfare concern with ethical implications include the displacement of stockpersons by technology, poor facility design, stray voltage, coercive behavioural change and indirect impacts on human society and values.

The Cruel Optimism of Anthropocene Technologies: Suspicion and Fascination of Technology in Okja, What Happened to Monday, and Geostorm

The Cruel Optimism of Anthropocene Technologies: Suspicion and Fascination of Technology in <i>Okja</i>, <i>What Happened to Monday</i>, and <i>Geostorm</i>

Farmer Friendly Solar Electric Fence

Crops are vulnerable to animals because of this it is very essential to monitor the surrounding area of farm, where the threat of animal or human interruption is expected. In this paper we present a method to protect farm from animals by using microcontroller based electric fence circuit using other peripheral devices like solar panel, IC ULN 2003, controller circuit, driver circuit, and buzzer. The developed system is not harmful to animal and human being.

Development and evaluation of an ultra-wide bandwidth based electronic hand hygiene monitoring system

BackgroundA large variety of electronic hand hygiene monitoring systems (EHHMS) are being developed and applied in health care settings. Monitoring hand hygiene (HH) opportunity at bed-level has been the key technical challenge. Accuracy evaluation needs more attention as the prerequisite upon widespread acceptance and adoption. MethodsFor the first time, we explored, debugged and upgraded an EHHMS based on ultra-wide bandwidth (UWB) which can obtain HH opportunities at bed-level. The real-time positioning and electronic fence of UWB technology was applied for EHHMS. The accuracy of EHHMS was compared with the simultaneous manual direct observations in real-world clinical setting. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated for EHHMS capturing HH action and opportunity. ResultsTwo generations of EHHMS were constructed. For the first generation, the system properly recorded 84% and 78% of the pre-identified HH actions and opportunities performed by experimenters. For the second generation, sensitivity and specificity of the system capturing HH action were 89% (84.83-92.36) and 100% (98.26-100.00), respectively. For capturing HH opportunity, the system showed the sensitivity and specificity of 86.52% (82.52-89.89) and 88.10% (84.14-91.36)), respectively. ConclusionThe EHHMS based on UWB could accurately identify HH action and opportunity with equivalent accuracy compared with simultaneous direct observation.

The Virtual Fence Dynamic: a Breakthrough for Low-Cost and Sustainable Mitigation of Human-Elephant Conflict in Subsistence Agriculture?

Attempts to deter elephants from entering crop fields and human settlements in Africa have used various barriers (e.g. electric fences, chilli fences, beehive fences or plant barriers), situated on or very near the boundaries of fields or villages, with rather variable success. We explored a very simple new barrier concept based upon re-arranging the layout of foreign stimuli already known to arouse suspicion and fear among elephants. Deterrence involved deploying unnaturally scented objects on and across their pathways of habitual movement leading to crop field clusters. Elephants are suspicious of unpleasant olfactory stimuli, like string or cloth saturated with pungent-smelling chilli oil, old engine oil, or creosote and dislike ‘chilli smoke’. Foreign visual items like plastic bottles, reflective metal strips and cow bells possibly reinforced suspicion of these unpleasant scents and influenced the deterrent effect. These flimsy items deployed over very short distances merely acted as a bluff to ‘problem elephants’ that people were actively trying to impede their progress, and the vast majority chose to turn back or deviate substantially. Thus we coined the term a ‘soft virtual boundary’. We demonstrate that placing virtual boundaries away from village and agricultural lands, forces elephants to encounter them upon leaving their daytime refuges, while still in natural habitat. The suspicion and fear generated here considerably reduces elephants’ determination to proceed onwards to risk crop raiding. When multiple, small virtual boundaries are strategically moved around at intervals, a ‘virtual fence dynamic’ delivers an enduring deterrent effect. In ten study areas in two countries over seven years this technique led to considerable and consistent reductions in crop damage levels of up to 95% in places. Because these methods (i) completely rely on local knowledge, (ii) were exceptionally low cost and (iii) demonstrated rapid results, the ‘buy-in’ from affected communities of small-scale subsistence farmers was immediate and very enthusiastic. So this strategy has the potential to remove the most intractable stumbling block to the sustainability of human-elephant conflict mitigation efforts in smallholder agriculture – reliance upon conservation donor funding for very costly and problematic mitigation measures like fencing, compensation schemes and elephant translocations.

GPS data in urban bicycle-sharing: Dynamic electric fence planning with assessment of resource-saving and potential energy consumption increasement

As a newly-emerging option of shared transportation, Internet-enabled dockless bicycle sharing is well accepted by the public. The implementation of electric fences has great potential to tackle the problem of random parking in bicycle sharing services. However, the deployment of electric fences would have a negative impact on the convenience of bicycle sharing services, which might lead to an increase in energy consumption among customers who switch their methods of transportation. This paper proposes a dynamic electric fence planning method with an assessment of resource-saving and potential energy consumption increasement. An agent-based model is proposed to simulate the trips and evaluated the performance of static and dynamic electric fences. The results show that dynamic electric fences require significantly shorter walking distances than static electric fences. The implementation of electric fences in the city center can significantly avoid random parking and improve the parking tidiness of bicycles. The implementation of dynamic and static electric fences can averagely save 25.31% and 27.76% bicycle resources. By estimating travel mode shifting, dynamic electric fence can reduce energy consumption by 5.79% per day compared to the static electric fence situation.

Research and Design of An Early Warning System for Emerging Infectious Diseases Based on UWB

Aiming at the problem of cross-infection in hospitals and other areas of infectious diseases, we designed a system based on ultra-wideband and using TDOA positioning method combined with smart wearable devices to realize health warning and contact trajectory tracking of medical staff. In the hospital area with stricter management, we obtain the user’s consent and wear smart bracelets to the users. These bracelets are used for positioning and temperature detection.. First, we model the indoor area based on the measurement data of the indoor area and install the base station, use the ultra-wideband technology combined with the wireless time synchronization TDOA method to achieve high-precision positioning in the indoor area, and use Kalman filter to filter the positioning noise data. Then, it combines the body temperature detection data of the wearable bracelet and the system positioning data to establish a user track tracking service to further record the user’s activity range. In addition, the area is strictly controlled, the trajectory of the infected person is restored and the contact person is quickly located, and timely warning can be provided through information such as electronic fence and body temperature. The system can trace the source of regional outbreaks of infectious diseases, provide health warnings for users, and quickly locate the relevant contacts of virus carriers.

Mitigation Strategies for Human-Tibetan Brown Bear (Ursus arctos pruinosus) Conflicts in the Hinterland of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.

Simple SummaryThe conservation of Tibetan brown bear (Ursus arctos pruinosus) and its habitat is of great value to the conservation of sympatric species, which helps to maintain the health and stability of the regional ecosystem. In recent years, human–bear conflicts (HBCs) have intensified in the Sanjiangyuan Region in Qinghai Province, China, decreasing the tolerance of local herders of the species and seriously affecting the motivation of local communities to protect brown bears and other wildlife, with retaliatory killing posing a threat to their survival. Timely development of effective measures and countermeasures for mitigating HBCs is crucial to protect brown bears. The mitigation or resolution of HBC issues is beneficial to both the promotion of people’s livelihoods and the conservation of brown bears on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP). At present, there is still a lack of research on the mitigation measures of HBCs on the QTP. This study combined field surveys, semi-structured interviews, and HBC seminars to understand the effectiveness of current mitigation measures and to propose potential mitigation measures in the hinterland of the QTP. This work proposed targeted mitigation measures for HBCs taking into account existing HBC management practices in China and abroad, and the unique geographical environment, laws and regulations, folk culture, and religious beliefs of local regions. Although this study was limited to a single species on the QTP, the results herein are useful for drafting national-level wildlife conservation policies, compensation programs for wildlife damage, and natural resource conservation regulations.Personal injury and property damage caused by wildlife can worsen the relationship between humans and wildlife. In recent years, conflicts between herders and Tibetan brown bears (Ursus arctos pruinosus) (human–bear conflicts; HBCs) on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau have increased dramatically, severely affecting community motivation for the conservation of brown bears and other species. Understanding the types, effectiveness, and flaws of current HBC mitigation measures is critical to develop effective strategies to alleviate HBC. From 2017 to 2019, we conducted a systematic field survey regarding HBCs on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. In addition, we invited bear specialists and multiple interest groups to hold an HBC seminar and proposed some potential mitigation strategies. We surveyed 312 families via semi-structured interviews and documented 16 types of HBC mitigation measures. A total of 96% of respondents were using more than two mitigation measures simultaneously. The effectiveness evaluation of HBC mitigation measures showed that: (1) removing food from winter homes while herders were at their summer pastures and asking people to keep watch of winter homes were effective at protecting food and houses; (2) traditional grazing methods (human guarding of livestock all day) and solar soundboxes (attached to livestock) were effective at protecting free-range livestock; (3) solar street lights had a deterrent effect on brown bears and were effective in protecting livestock, houses, and people; and (4) due to the unstable power supply of photovoltaic cells and improper installation of ground wires, electric fences were not ideal in practice. Evaluation of the potential mitigation measures at the seminar showed that upgrading electric fence technology, expanding electric fence pilot areas, installing diversionary feeders, and introducing bear spray were the most optimal solutions. This study provides a scientific basis for creating human–bear coexistence plans on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

An Electric Fence-Based Intelligent Scheduling Method for Rebalancing Dockless Bike Sharing Systems

With a new generation of bike sharing services emerging, the development of dockless bike sharing services results in considerable socioeconomic and environmental benefits but also creates new issues, such as inappropriate parking behaviors and bike imbalances. To solve the inappropriate parking problem, electric fences have been introduced to guide users to park bikes in designated zones. Considering the role of electric fences in restricting user parking behaviors, an electric fence-based intelligent scheduling method for rebalancing dockless bike sharing systems is proposed in this paper. As a dynamic method that considers the real-time usage of bike sharing systems, an electric fence adjusts its capacity based on real-time information, which guides users to return bikes to electric fences with greater urgency. Because existing approaches require prespecified models and are unable to consider all the intricacies in the dynamic optimization problem, a model-free intelligent scheduling approach based on deep Q-learning that can adapt to the changing distributions of customer arrivals, available bikes, bike locations, and user travel times is used to solve the problem. Finally, a case study involving Beihang University is employed, which shows that the method performs well in rebalancing the bike sharing system and improving the mean utilization (MU) and customer satisfaction (CS).

Testing the Short-Term Effectiveness of Various Deterrents for Reducing Crop Foraging by Primates

Crop foraging by wildlife is a major driver of negative interactions between farmers and wildlife, and yet there are few published examples of effective solutions to deter wildlife from crops. Here we investigate the effectiveness of six different methods to deter primates from crop foraging on commercial farms in South Africa. Model snakes and bioacoustic sounds had no effect on chacma baboons (Papio ursinus). A leopard model and the sound of bees reduced the foraging duration at bait stations of vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) and baboons, respectively. Human sounds appeared to reduce the number of days baboons visited a bait station, but not their foraging duration. Only an electric fence was effective at keeping both baboons and vervets out of a crop field. We encourage modifications to electric fence designs to avoid electrocution of smaller animals and make recommendations for other deterrent methods that require further investigation.

ECIS Based Electric Fence Method for Measurement of Human Keratinocyte Migration on Different Substrates

Electric Cell-substrate Impedance Sensing (ECIS) is an impedance-based, real-time, and label-free measuring system for monitoring cellular activities in tissue culture. Previously, ECIS wound healing assay has been used to wound cells with high electric current and monitor the subsequent cell migration. In this study, we applied ECIS electric fence (EF) method, an alternative to electrical wounding, to assess the effects of different surface coatings on human keratinocyte (HaCaT) migration. The EF prevents inoculated cells from attaching or migrating to the fenced electrode surface while maintaining the integrity of the surface coating. After the EF is turned off, cells migrate into the cell-free area, and the increase in measured impedance is monitored. We cultured HaCaT cells on gold electrodes without coating or coated with poly-L-lysin (PLL), poly-D-lysine (PDL), or type-I collagen. We quantified migration rates according to the different slopes in the impedance time series. It was observed that either poly-L-lysine (PLL) or poly-D-lysine (PDL) limits cell adhesion and migration rates. Furthermore, the surface charge of the coated substrate in the culture condition positively correlates with the cell adhesion and migration process. Our results indicate that the EF method is useful for determining cell migration rates on specific surface coatings.

Influence of infrastructure, ecology, and underpass-dimensions on multi-year use of Standard Gauge Railway underpasses by mammals in Tsavo, Kenya

Rail and road infrastructure is essential for economic growth and development but can cause a gradual loss in biodiversity and degradation of ecosystem function and services. We assessed the influence of underpass dimensions, fencing, proximity to water and roads, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), presence of other species and livestock on underpass use by large and medium-sized mammals. Results revealed hyenas and leopards used the underpasses more than expected whereas giraffes and antelopes used the underpasses less than expected. Generalized linear mixed-effects models revealed that underpass height influenced use by wildlife, with several species preferring to use taller underpasses. Electric fencing increased underpass use by funneling species towards underpasses, except for elephants and black-backed jackal for which it reduced underpass passage. We also found that the use of underpasses by livestock reduced the probability of use by nearly 50% for wildlife species. Carnivore species were more likely to cross underpasses used by their prey. Buffalo, livestock, and hyenas used underpasses characterized by vegetation with higher NDVI and near water sources while baboons, dik-diks and antelope avoided underpasses with high NDVI. Our findings suggest a need for diverse and comprehensive approaches for mitigating the negative impacts of rail on African wildlife.

Do ditch‐side electric fences improve the breeding productivity of ground‐nesting waders?

Abstract Insufficient reproduction as a consequence of predation on eggs and chicks is a major determinant of population decline in ground‐nesting birds, including waders. For many populations, there is an urgent need to maintain breeding populations at key sites, and conservation practitioners need to find viable management solutions to reduce predation. One tool available to the practitioner is fences that exclude key predators from areas containing breeding birds. Temporary electric fencing is an increasingly popular predator exclusion intervention, but such fences have costs associated with purchase and the time needed to erect and maintain them. Their effectiveness and optimal application are also frequently questioned. We evaluate the use of temporary ditch‐side four‐strand electric fences in lowland grasslands in two countries, The Netherlands and England, in areas containing high densities of breeding waders. In both countries and in all years, godwit and lapwing nest survival was significantly higher within areas enclosed by ditch‐side electric fences. Brood survival, assessed for godwits in The Netherlands, was also higher within fenced areas in all years. This demonstrates that using temporary electric fences to enclose ground‐nesting birds can be an effective tool for improving breeding productivity. In our study, closely managed electric fences were effective at excluding red foxes Vulpes vulpes, but not avian and other mammalian predators. The positive effect that electric fencing had on nest and brood survival therefore likely results from a reduction in the total number of visits by mammalian predators, and especially visits by foxes. Although it requires a substantial time investment throughout the period of use, our temporary electric fence design provides flexibility compared to other fence designs when it comes to enclosing different areas within a season and between years, as the targets for protection change or as land and flood management dictate. This conservation intervention can help buy the time required to develop and implement longer term solutions for application at larger scales.

Hotspots Identification and Classification of Dockless Bicycle Sharing Service under Electric Fence Circumstances

Dockless bicycle sharing is one of the low-carbon transportation modes towards sustainable mobilities. Electric fences, as an effective solution for parking management, may have a high potential in guiding the usage of dockless bicycles at a low operation cost. However, new issues arise with the implementation of electric fences. The location of electric fences in hotspots fails to match the parking demand, leading the parking congestion in urban central areas. In this paper, a novel methodology of bicycle hotspots identification and classification is proposed to support parking management. An evaluation framework for bicycle hotspots is also proposed covering three aspects: demand and supply, unbalance, and land use. The methodology is applied to the case of Xiamen Island by using the trip data covering 53,629 bicycles during morning peak hours. Applying the methodology proposed, 47 pick-up hotspots and 53 return hotspots are identified, respectively. The total parking overload of return hotspots during the morning peak is 12,587 bicycles in Xiamen Island. The 53 return hotspots are classified into three clusters, including (1) hotspots where bicycle sharing is in overload status, (2) hotspots where bicycle sharing service quality needs to be improved, and (3) hotspots where bicycle sharing is in stable status. Based on the demand and land use characteristics, parking management schemes and policy implications are proposed. The result of this paper provides guidance for the layout of dockless bicycle sharing electric fences in different areas.