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Gallagher Gets
Grizzly
 Got
a problem
keeping a few
cows fenced in?
How about
keeping a few
hundred
grizzlies fenced
out? Or making
sure a few dozen
black bears
aren’t getting
after your
goats?
Bears of all
kinds are a
sometime
dangerous
nuisance around
Yellowstone and
Grand Teton
National Parks
and the national
forests of
northwestern
Wyoming. It’s a
wilderness area
bordered by
Montana and
Idaho that’s
perfect habitat
for a large and
growing
population of
bears.
Bears are born
scavengers that
can get
aggressive when
they’re hungry.
Easily
accessible
campsites,
apiaries and
dumpsters are
nothing more
than convenient
dining spots for
these
creatures. When
they decide to
munch on
whatever’s
handy, they can
do serious
economic damage
and threaten
people as well
as livestock.
Mark Bruscino is
a bear
specialist with
the Wyoming Game
and Fish
Department.
Bears are his
constant
problem.
“They’re smart
animals,: he
said, “they’ll
find a way to
get around most
preventative
measures. They
can knock down
barriers and
tunnel under
most fences.”
“We have to keep
them out of
grain sheds,
small garbage
dumps and
dumpsters. Most
of the things we
tried in the
early 1990’s
didn’t work,” he
said.
In 1993 Morgan
Renner, a
Territory
Manager with
Gallagher,
helped design an
electric fence
to solve the
problem. “I’m
sold on it,”
said Bruscino as
he talked about
the fence.
“It’s top notch
stuff.”
The fence is
“100% effective”
when it’s
maintained
properly,
according to
Bruscino.
The Game and
Fish Department
uses permanent
and temporary
Gallagher fences
now. The
permanent fences
are where bears
are a constant
problem – around
camp grounds,
for instance.
Temporary fences
can be quickly
erected around
sites like grain
bins until the
bear can be
captured and
transported to a
remote location.
“We use a
five-wire fence
with high
tensile strength
wire. Because
it can be very
dry, we use
alternating hot
and ground wires
to make sure
we’ve got full
conductivity,”
said Bruscino as
he described the
permanent set
up. Wooden
corner posts
anchor the fence
and he uses
fiberglass posts
to support the
wire. The lower
three wires are
spaced six
inches apart and
the top two
wires have 10
inches between
them, making for
a bear proof
barrier.
Bruscino
estimates bears
have tested the
fence hundreds
of times without
successfully
breaking
through.
“Usually, they
just spin around
and take off,”
he said. “I saw
evidence that a
bear swatted at
the wire once
but all it did
was stretch it
out a bit.”
To prevent
“tunneling”
bears from going
underground,
Bruscino uses a
woven wire
ground in some
place.
Stretching about
three feet out
from the fence
line, it’s
additional
discouragement
to marauding
beasts.
Bee keepers in
the region sleep
better at night
and goat herds
graze
unmolested.
More
importantly,
campers can
sleep safely at
night, too, with
nothing between
them and the
night air but a
few square yards
of canvas.
According to
Erwin Quinn,
president of
Gallagher, “An
electric fence
is a
psychological
barrier that
keeps farm
animals and wild
animals where
they should be
with safety and
security.
Because the
fence is a
psychological
barrier, it
doesn’t require
great strength
to be effective.
However, it must
be well designed
in accordance
with the species
to be
controlled, and
constructed to
withstand the
harsh weather
conditions that
hit the Rockies
in the dead of
winter.”
The company,
based in North
Kansas City,
Missouri, is one
of the world’s
largest
manufacturers of
electric fences
designed to
contain cattle,
horses and other
farm animals as
well as prevent
wild animals and
predators from
gaining access
to areas where
they can do
economic damage.
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