Wildlife Friendly Fencing

Wildlife Friendly Fencing The wildlife friendly fencing project is raising awareness of the impact of fencing on Australian wildlife, and developing guidelines for good practice.

Wildlife friendly fencing avoids the use of barbed wire, but is safe effective fencing for wildlife, people and livestock. Barbed wire in particular is a major hazard for wildlife. Each year thousands of animals face a cruel death or permanent injury from entanglement on barbs, usually on the top strand. More than 75 wildlife species have been identified in Australia as occasional or regular victims of barbed wire fences, especially nocturnal animals such as bats, gliders and owls. Many fail to see the fence, or cannot clear the height under windy conditions. Most of those rescued are too severely damaged to return to the wild. There are also other fencing hazards. Kangaroos get hung up in fences that are too high, whether plain or barbed, a situation made worse by the bottom strand of the fence being too low. Wetlands fenced too close to the waterline prevent wetland birds from landing or taking off, especially cranes. Barbed wire is both an animal welfare and conservation issue. It is recognised as a threatening process in the draft / recovery plans for a number of species. These include the Yellow-bellied glider (Petaurus australis), the Mahogany glider (Petaurus gracilis), the Spectacled flying fox (Pteropus conspicillatus) and Grey-headed flying fox (Pteropus poliocephalis). We seek a fundamental change in the approach to fencing, a change that considers the welfare of wildlife in the landscape. The project is looking to establish partnerships with a wide range of organisations to help promote and implement wildlife friendly fencing. These include wildlife rescue groups, natural resource management groups, all levels of government, fencing manufacturers, contractors and suppliers. There is no ongoing funding to run or coordinate the project. Tolga Bat Hospital was been awarded 2 grants, the first from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Federal Government’s NHT program in 2006, and the second a Community Action Grant from Caring for Our Country in 2010. We welcome donations to continue this work. All donations are tax deductible. We need your help
1. Familiarise yourself with the project through this website. Tell others.
2.Make your fences wildlife friendly and encourage others to do likewise.
3.Monitor fences in your local area and report any entangled animals in your area to your local wildlife group. You can find them at www.fauna.org.au Contact us if you find species that are not already on our list. Send us photos.
4.Give us your ideas on wildlife friendly fencing.
5. Help introduce wildlife friendly fencing into your community through appropriate channels eg Landcare or NRM groups. Please contact us for educational resources.
6.Support us by making a donation, or purchasing WFF promotional products - tshirts and car stickers. You can contact us by email info(at)wildlifefriendlyfencing.com or by telephone 07 4091 2683

23/03/2026

We are looking to print some more Wildlife Friendly Netting brochures, get in contact with Tolga Bat Hospital if you are interested in joining the print run.

23/03/2026
Sorry everyone, these are tough images to look at. However they serve as a great reminder how important it is to use sma...
18/03/2026

Sorry everyone, these are tough images to look at. However they serve as a great reminder how important it is to use small aperture (

Great work Wildlife Empire for rehabbing and releasing this beautiful bird of prey after it became caught in barbed wire...
16/03/2026

Great work Wildlife Empire for rehabbing and releasing this beautiful bird of prey after it became caught in barbed wire fencing! That fly off looks pretty impressive!!!

12/03/2026
6 strands of barbed wire is also a lot! Wonder what they are trying to keep in or out with 6 strands. It appears in this...
07/03/2026

6 strands of barbed wire is also a lot! Wonder what they are trying to keep in or out with 6 strands. It appears in this setting this fence could have the bottom 4 strands as barbed and the top 2 as plain - minimising over 90% of entanglements. Anyways - we will keep chipping away at advocating for the transition to WFF as we go!

26/02/2026
🦇❤️‍🩹
24/02/2026

🦇❤️‍🩹

💚 🦇 SUNDAY SHOUT OUT! 💚 🦇

A huge THANK YOU to our incredible volunteers who gave up their Sunday to purchase and install protective tape along barbed wire fencing at a local sports club.

Barbed wire poses a serious and often fatal risk to wildlife. Flying foxes, birds, gliders and even wallabies can become entangled, suffering horrific injuries including wing tears, broken bones, dehydration and prolonged distress before help arrives.

We see the consequences far too often in rescue. It is preventable.

Simple measures like covering or replacing barbed wire can make an enormous difference. Ultimately, we believe barbed wire fencing should be phased out in areas where wildlife lives and moves. It is outdated, dangerous and unnecessary in many community spaces.

If your organisation has barbed wire fencing and would like advice on wildlife-safe alternatives, please reach out. Together we can make our community safer for animals we share it with 💚

Learn more about Wildlife Friendly Fencing here -

https://wildlifefriendlyfencing.org/

23/02/2026

AMAZING news for wildlife! 🐨🦘

A long-forgotten bridge over the Princes Motorway is being transformed into something incredible, not for cars, but for wildlife!

The Cawleys Bridge (NSW) retrofit is reconnecting fragmented bushland and giving animals a safe way to move across one of the busiest roads in the state. This amazing initiative will help our precious native species, from tiny insects to wombats, gliders, possums and even koalas, to safely cross what has long been a dangerous barrier. 🐾🚧

🌱 Instead of building new infrastructure, this project repurposes an existing bridge, turning it into a corridor with soil, plants, logs and elevated pathways that mimic natural habitat. Cameras are already in place to monitor usage and researchers can’t wait to see the first animals using it!

👏 This is a great win for conservation, connectivity and wildlife protection - a cleverly designed retrofit that will save countless lives and set a powerful precedent for future initiatives.

Source link in comments.
Photo credit: ABC News: Greg Bigelow



BAWCS 'caring with compassion'

Not an Australian post, however the themes are still very relevant and applicable here! https://www.facebook.com/share/p...
17/02/2026

Not an Australian post, however the themes are still very relevant and applicable here!

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16r5QyxRqC/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Habitat fragmentation is something we humans excel at. Basically, it is where we chop up large swaths of the ecosystem into isolated, small islands by building roads, constructing buildings, and digging it up to plant crops. The problem is that isolated small islands have finite resources for the wildlife that we trap there and limit the genetic diversity and subsequently, the health, of that wildlife. As a result, wildlife is forced to cross our man-made barriers to find food, to migrate, and to reproduce. The roadkill you see on our roadways is a constant reminder that WE have created an obstacle course for wildlife that is just trying to do what they naturally do. The Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife estimates that 14.5 million wild vertebrate animals are killed on Oregon roadways annually. Add to that over $132 million annually in damages, emergency response, and other costs, plus 2-4 human deaths per year. Again, that is just here in Oregon. Data has shown us that controlling driver behavior with traffic regulations and road signs is not as effective as redirecting the animals themselves. Yep, it’s easier to control the behavior of wild animals than humans. Imagine that? Wildlife crossings are hugely successful in preventing animal-vehicle fatalities. Montana, Colorado, and California together have around 200 of these crossings while Oregon has only 6. But, there is another Oregon crossing in the works for 2028 on I-5!

14/02/2026

‘In the six weeks of the summer holidays, we can fill that jar up completely. Link below.

14/02/2026

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134 Carrington Road
Atherton, QLD
4883

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