A pest-exclusion fence is built to exclude certain types of animal

Animal

Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...

 pests from an enclosure

Enclosure

Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...

. This may be to protect plants in horticulture

Horticulture

Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...

, to preserve grassland

Grassland

Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...

 for grazing

Grazing

Grazing generally describes a type of feeding, in which a herbivore feeds on plants , and also on other multicellular autotrophs...

 animals, or to protect endemic species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 in nature reserve

Nature reserve

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

s.

Design techniques

Animals can be excluded by a fence's height, depth under the ground and mesh

Mesh

Mesh consists of semi-permeable barrier made of connected strands of metal, fiber, or other flexible/ductile material. Mesh is similar to web or net in that it has many attached or woven strands.-Types of mesh:...

 size. It is also important to choose a construction material that cannot be climbed; furthermore, sometimes it is necessary to create a subsurface fencing element to prevent burrowing under the fence.

Examples

• The 1.9m high fence at the Orokonui Ecosanctuary
  Orokonui Ecosanctuary
  Orokonui Ecosanctuary, called Te Korowai o Mihiwaka in Māori, is an ecological island wildlife reserve being developed by the Otago Natural History Trust in the Orokonui Valley near Waitati, New Zealand, 20 km to the north of central Dunedin....
  
   in Waitati
  Waitati
  Waitati is a small seaside settlement in Otago, New Zealand, within the city limits of Dunedin. It is located close to the tidal mudflats of Blueskin Bay, 19 kilometres north of the Dunedin city centre...
  
  , New Zealand is designed to keep out all introduced mammals such as possum
  Possum
  A possum is any of about 70 small to medium-sized arboreal marsupial species native to Australia, New Guinea, and Sulawesi .Possums are quadrupedal diprotodont marsupials with long tails...
  
  s, rat
  Rat
  Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
  
  s, stoat
  Stoat
  The stoat , also known as the ermine or short-tailed weasel, is a species of Mustelid native to Eurasia and North America, distinguished from the least weasel by its larger size and longer tail with a prominent black tip...
  
  s, ferret
  Ferret
  The ferret is a domesticated mammal of the type Mustela putorius furo. Ferrets are sexually dimorphic predators with males being substantially larger than females. They typically have brown, black, white, or mixed fur...
  
  s and even mice
  MICE
  -Fiction:*Mice , alien species in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*The Mice -Acronyms:* "Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing, Exhibitions", facilities terminology for events...
  
  . It uses stainless steel
  Stainless steel
  In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass....
  
   mesh
  Mesh
  Mesh consists of semi-permeable barrier made of connected strands of metal, fiber, or other flexible/ductile material. Mesh is similar to web or net in that it has many attached or woven strands.-Types of mesh:...
  
   that continues down to form a skirt at ground level that prevents animals from burrowing under it. On the top is a curved steel hood that prevents climbers like cats and possums from climbing over the top.

Use in New Zealand

Prior to human settlement New Zealand had no land based mammals apart from three bat species. The introduced

Introduced species

An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...

 mammal species have since caused huge ecological changes to the biota of New Zealand. Pest-exclusion fences are increasingly used for conservation of indigenous species by excluding all mammals.

Locations of predator proof fences include:

• Cape Brett
  Cape Brett
  Cape Brett is a promontory on the northern North Island coast in New Zealand. Located at the end of the Cape Brett Peninsula, the head extends north into the Pacific Ocean at the eastern end of the Bay of Islands....
  
  
• Deans Bush, Christchurch
  Christchurch
  Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...
  
  
• Karori Wildlife Sanctuary
  Karori Wildlife Sanctuary
  Zealandia, formerly known as the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, is a protected natural area in Wellington, New Zealand, where the biodiversity of 225 ha of forest is being restored...
  
  
• Maungatautari Restoration Project
  Maungatautari Restoration Project
  The Maungatautari Restoration Project is the largest ecological restoration project in New Zealand, located near Cambridge in the Waikato region in the central North Island of New Zealand....
  
  
• Orokonui Ecosanctuary
  Orokonui Ecosanctuary
  Orokonui Ecosanctuary, called Te Korowai o Mihiwaka in Māori, is an ecological island wildlife reserve being developed by the Otago Natural History Trust in the Orokonui Valley near Waitati, New Zealand, 20 km to the north of central Dunedin....
  
  
• Styx Mill Reserve, Christchurch, New Zealand (under construction)
• Stewart Island, New Zealand
• Tawharanui Peninsula
  Tawharanui Peninsula
  Tawharanui Peninsula is a finger of land projecting into the Hauraki Gulf from the east coast of the much larger North Auckland Peninsula of New Zealand. It separates Omaha Bay to the north from Kawau Bay and Kawau Island to the south...