The Devil’s Rope: Nasty Stuff Made by Greedy Men
Researching barbed wire, I came across this quote by Scottish comedian Billy Connolly:
All anyone really needs to know about barbed wire is that it can tear the arse out of your trousers, give a cow a good fright, entangle a Yorkshire terrier for life, and is nasty stuff made by greedy men.
Invented during the settlement of the American West in the 19th century, it was soon used by settlers to keep cattle away from their crops – but also to charge trail drivers for moving cattle along the prairie, which inspired Connolly’s barbed wire summary. It effectively ended the era of the big cattle drives of the West, prompting stockmen to dub it “the devil’s rope”.
Fast-forward more than a century and on the other side of the globe, the Yankees’ devil’s rope is a thorn in the side of those who love wildlife. It is often the cheapest fencing option and therefore widely used.
Alison Roberts, who studies Environmental Science at CDU, has been fighting it for years. Over the years, she has pulled hundreds of live animals off barbed wire fences in the rural area. In 2015 alone, numbers exceeded 120. Most commonly affected are nocturnal animals such as bats, owls, and sugar gliders, but Alison has found entangled curlews, red-tailed and sulphur-crested cockatoos, plovers, kookaburras and many more. A possum that got stuck on barbed wire and tried to free herself in a panic, tore herself up so badly she had to be euthanised – a fate many of Alison’s rescues share. Flying foxes, the most common barbed wire victims, often try to bite the wire to free themselves, causing horrific mouth injuries. They then often get stuck by their faces, with the barbs hooking into the roof of their mouth or the cheek.
Fruit bats, as they are commonly known, get caught so frequently because barbed wire is such a common fencing material, whether for fruit plantations or private properties with native trees and shrubs. Bats (and other nocturnal wildlife) often fail to see the barbed wire until it is too late. According to Wildlife Friendly Fencing, a project funded by various grants to protect threatened species, over 75 different species have been recorded getting trapped on barbed wire, with 86% of recorded wildlife entanglements occurring on the top strand of barbed wire fences.
Yet many of these tragic accidents are preventable, explains Alison. Besides replacing barbed wire with barbless wire – after all, chances of a cattle drive through Humpty Doo are fairly low! – a simple addition to the top strand has proven very effective: poly tape. Hot tape, as it is also called, contains a silver thread that reflects in the moonlight. Running it along the top strand of the barbed wire improves visibility for wildlife greatly. It really is that simple.
Apart from regular checks at barbed wire hot spots, Alison frequently goes bunting. A few rolls of poly tape, several hundred netting clips, pliers, gloves – and preferably a few helping hands – are all she needs. On this dry season morning she has two volunteers. A cloudy start to the day means relatively cool temperatures in the beginning (although a Southerner might debate that!). One roll contains 400m of poly tape, which takes two people about thirty minutes to put up. On this occasion, the fence of the transmitting station near Fogg Dam is getting bunted. Instructions from the station are to “make it neat”, so the bunters use clips generously. It takes three people, nearly four rolls of tape and a couple of hours to cover the whole fence line. As the clouds dissipate and the sun starts to burn, thoughts turn to any animal unlucky enough to get hooked on barbed wire. The pain, the panic, the increasing heat – hell on earth. The devil’s rope indeed.
How often does Alison check “her” fences? She shrugs. “If I know there is a hot spot I will check it every day until it is fixed or they stop being caught – I can’t sleep knowing they are there just waiting to die.”
Learn more about wildlife friendly fences at www.wildlifefriendlyfencing.com. You can support Alison on her gofundme page: https://www.gofundme.com/2grz6mc.
Hanna Markones is from Germany but has been in Australia (mostly in Darwin) for seven years. She finished her Master of Environmental Management at CDU last July and is currently working as a veterinary nurse.
