Deer
Jack C. Leighty/Susan J. Noble (jleighty@chesapeake.net)
Thu, 9 Apr 1998 14:26:27 -0400 (EDT)
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More on deer damage control from the Post. Not for the average
homeowner!!
Deer Stoppers
FENCING THE ELECTRIC WAY
By Adrian Higgins
Thursday, April 9, 1998; Page T16
The experts say they have finally devised a fence that keeps deer
out of the garden.
The bad news? It's ugly and has 10,000 volts of electricity pulsing
through it.
Jay McAninch, the wildlife biologist who developed it, says that
both aspects shouldn't prevent homeowners on larger properties from
using it to protect valuable ornamental plants, even though the
fence is used mostly by farmers.
McAninch designed the electrified slant fence while working for the
New York Botanical Garden almost 20 years ago. Interest in it has
grown recently as frustrated gardeners on the fringes of cities like
Washington have seen their landscaping efforts thwarted by herds of
hungry and fearless deer.
Local gardeners report little permanent success in ridding deer with
repellents or conventional fencing.
The slant fence consists of eight-foot timbers bolted to five-foot
vertical wooden posts. The timbers are slanted so their tops are no
more than 55 inches above the ground. Eight strands of wire are
strung between the slants, and the wire, in turn, is charged with
electricity.
The sloping design disrupts the deer's sense of depth perception and
discourages attempts to jump it. The electric shock is a necessary
reinforcement, McAninch said. Without it, the deer will persist and
eventually "figure out where the gaps are."
McAninch and Darryl Firth, of Gallagher Power Fence, Inc., which
supplies the fences, said in spite of the electrification, the
fences are safe. Although high in voltage, they have a current of
less than one amp, and the energizers pulsate so the power turns on
and off constantly.
In one public garden, "we have a children's garden surrounded by
electric fences," said McAninch, now a wildlife biologist at the
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. "Hundreds of kids every
summer are there learning about gardening and electric fencing. Even
if they do [get a shock] it's not going to harm them," he said.
Some local governments prohibit electrified fencing in certain
neighborhoods. The Gallagher company advises gardeners to check with
local zoning offices before installing them.
For those who find the slant fence aesthestically challenging,
McAninch and Firth recommend the type of fence used by Great Falls
vineyard owner Bill Garrett. Garrett uses a simple vertical
electrified fence to exclude the deer from a two-acre area
containing the vineyard, an orchard and ornamental garden on his
20-acre property. "This is only five feet tall, but in six years I
don't think I have had a single deer through that fence," said
Garrett, the former editor of National Geographic magazine.
The posts are made of polypropylene with a spike on the bottom, and
are easily moved, to allow for mowing, or simply relocating the
fence. The wires are actually white plastic strips with stainless
steel filaments that carry the electrical current. A reel on the end
of each tape keeps it taut.
Electrified fences might not be handsome, but they are not as ugly
as the high, wire-mesh fences that would be needed to physically
exclude deer, and they cost much less.
Firth said the cost of the materials for a slant fence is about $1
per foot and for a portable fence like Garrett's between 35 to 50
cents a foot. Gallagher Power Fence is based in San Antonio, Tex.
(800-531-5908).
© Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company
Jack Leighty
Huntingtown
jleighty@chesapeake.net