Research Center for Wildlife Management, Gifu University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu, Gifu 501-1193, Japan; Gifu Wildlife Management Promotion Center, Gifu Prefecture, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu, Gifu 501-1193, Japan.
Faculty of Bioresources and Environmental Sciences, Ishikawa Prefectural University, 1-308, Suematsu, Nonoichi, Ishikawa 921-8836, Japan.
Prev Vet Med. 2023 Sep;218:105980. doi: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2023.105980. Epub 2023 Jul 28.
Infectious diseases at the wildlife-livestock-human interface have become a crucial issue, and evidence-based measures are growing increasingly important. One countermeasure against animal diseases in wildlife is using fencing to contain and reduce disease spread and transmission rates between wild populations; however, quantitative assessments on fencing are rare. Moreover, existing research on fencing has highlighted knowledge gaps on the social and ecological aspects relevant to the use and design of fences. To control the spread of classical swine fever, fences were installed from the east to west in Gifu Prefecture, Japan, by March 2019, with the aim of restricting wild boar movement. To clarify the process of installation and maintenance of the fences, we conducted semi-structured interviews with prefectural government officers in Gifu Prefecture. Additionally, we installed infrared-triggered cameras at fence locations with and without gaps to evaluate the fence permeability of mammals. We used a generalized linear mixed model to evaluate the relationship between the presence of gaps and the relative abundance and permeability of each mammal. Our findings showed that the occurrence of gaps was inevitable during the installation and management of wide-area perimeter fence in Japan, partly because of social factors. For example, fences could not be installed on roads that were frequently used by residents and were not adequately maintained owing to budgetary reasons in some cases. Analysis of footage from the infrared-triggered cameras revealed that several mammal species crossed the fence at gaps and even had the ability to cross the gapless parts of the fences. Wild boars crossed through the gaps regularly. It is possible that Sika deer, Japanese serows, raccoons, Japanese badgers, raccoon dogs, Japanese macaques, and feral cats crossed through fence gaps because their relative abundance was high at gap locations. In contrast, Japanese hares slipped through the fence mesh rather than crossing through the gaps. In conclusion, we suggest that coordination and collaboration among related parties, a sufficient supply of fence materials, and securing a budget for fence maintenance are important for fence installation and maintenance. Furthermore, as fence gaps are inevitable, technical development of countermeasures for these gaps could be effective.
野生动物-牲畜-人类界面的传染病已成为一个关键问题，基于证据的措施变得越来越重要。在野生动物中控制动物疾病的一种对策是使用围栏来控制和降低野生动物种群之间疾病的传播和传播率；然而，对围栏的定量评估很少。此外，现有的关于围栏的研究强调了在使用和设计围栏时与社会和生态方面相关的知识差距。为了控制古典猪瘟的传播，日本岐阜县于 2019 年 3 月在从东至西的地区安装了围栏，以限制野猪的活动。为了阐明围栏的安装和维护过程，我们对岐阜县的县政府官员进行了半结构化访谈。此外，我们在有和没有缺口的围栏位置安装了红外触发相机，以评估哺乳动物对围栏的渗透性。我们使用广义线性混合模型来评估存在缺口与每种哺乳动物的相对丰度和渗透性之间的关系。我们的研究结果表明，在日本大面积周边围栏的安装和管理过程中，缺口的出现是不可避免的，部分原因是社会因素。例如，由于居民经常使用的道路上无法安装围栏，或者由于预算原因，在某些情况下围栏无法得到充分维护。从红外触发相机拍摄的片段分析中发现，一些哺乳动物物种在缺口处穿过围栏，甚至有能力穿过无缺口的围栏部分。野猪经常穿过缺口。有可能是梅花鹿、日本鬣羚、浣熊、日本獾、犬浣熊、日本猕猴和野猫穿过了围栏的缺口，因为它们在缺口处的相对丰度较高。相比之下，日本野兔则是从围栏网的缝隙中溜走，而不是穿过缺口。总之，我们建议相关各方之间进行协调与合作，提供充足的围栏材料，并为围栏维护提供预算，这对于围栏的安装和维护是很重要的。此外，由于围栏的缺口是不可避免的，因此开发针对这些缺口的对策可能会很有效。
