A Low-Cost, Low-Labor-Intensity Electric Fence Effective Against Wild Boar, Sika Deer, Japanese Macaque and Medium-Sized Mammals

Fences have been used to reduce crop damages caused by mammals (Conover 2001). Although exceptions exist, most fences do not work against a wide variety of mammal species as they are species-specific (Bruce 1979; Conover and Decker 1991; Csanyi 1995; Marsan et al. 1995; Balharry and MacDonald 1999; Huygens and Hayashi 1999; Poole et al. 2002; VerCauteren et al. 2006; Takeuchi 2007). Therefore, effective fences against various mammal species would be useful when many mammal species cause damages simultaneously (Naughton-Treves 1998; Suzuki and Yoshinaga 1999; Engeman and Sterner 2002). Honda et al. (2009) designed an electric fence that was extremely effective at stopping the intrusion of ten species. Many types of electric fence have been constructed using an energized line (i.e., one dimension), while the Honda fence (Honda et al. 2009) was constructed using an energized plane surface (i.e., two dimensions). An energized plane can electrify mammals without causing harm (Honda et al. 2009), whereas an energized line frequently fails to electrify animals (Hone and Atkinson 1983).