We don't usually think about fences as being a sea change in the fight for survival of wild animals. Often it is the barriers that humans use to protect themselves and their domesticated livestock whether animal or foul, which makes older ways of life impossible, especially living with animals that need to roam. I am not a vegetarian, but I do think that if we were too become plant eaters of quality plants rather than genetic rubbish, we could add to the richness and variety of our natural environments, those that are close to home.
More specifically, I remember as a child that in the town where I grew up there were few fences and lots of places for kids to roam and pick fruit of the neighbourhood, but going back there as an adult there were loads of fences and very little in the way of fruit. What have we done to our neighbourhood environments? Have we made them more like fortresses than homes. Do our kids walk out the back door into nature or are they penned up like zoo creatures? Have our cities become human zoos?
I think they have!
