Electric Fencing for the Control of Wallaby Movement.

Abstract

Captive colonies of 2 wallaby species, Bennett's wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus) and the Tasmanian pademelon (Thylogale billardieri) were used to evaluate a range of electric fence designs, and the 2 most effective of these were tested in the field in Tasmania. Over a 3-year period, a 10-wire electric fence reduced counts of faecal pellets from M. rufogriseus to 1% and pellets from T. billardieri to 20% of the number in a control plot surrounded with a 7-wire stock fence. Similarly, a 9-wire fence including an outrigger reduced faecal pellets from M. rufogriseus to 12.7% and pellets from T. billardieri to 46.5% of those in the control. In the same period, 5.6% of pasture grown inside the first fence, 16.0% of that in the second and 83.0% of that in the control was eaten.