Field trial results of the use of a scent fence (Duftzaun®) to prevent large mammal losses due to traffic accidents, Rhein-Sieg district, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
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Published source details
Lutz W. (1994) Ergebnisse der Anwendung eines sogenannten Duftzaunes zur Vermeidung von Wildverlusten durch den Straßenverkehr nach Gehege-und Freilandorientierungen. Zeitschrift für Jagdwissenschaft, 40, 91-108
Published source details Lutz W. (1994) Ergebnisse der Anwendung eines sogenannten Duftzaunes zur Vermeidung von Wildverlusten durch den Straßenverkehr nach Gehege-und Freilandorientierungen. Zeitschrift für Jagdwissenschaft, 40, 91-108
Summary
In some European countries, the high number of game animal losses due to collision with road traffic has become of concern. In 1991, a scent fence, Duftzaun®, entered the German market. This study assessed the effectiveness of Duftzaun® both through behavioural observations in a controlled environment (for a summary see: http://www.conservationevidence.com/ViewEntry.asp?ID=1459), and through comparison of the number of game animals lost in the year Duftzaun® was trialled with those of previous years when no traffic accident remedial measures were in place (summarised here).
Study site: In November 1992, a Duftzaun® “scent fence” was set up along a 2.8 km stretch of the K55, a county road that runs through a forested area and crosses traditional deer passes in the Rhein-Sieg district, midwestern Germany.
Materials: The base materials of Duftzaun® consist of “scent foam”, the carrier substance of which is made up of rigid polyurethane foam, and “scent concentrate”. The product comes with the scent mixture integrated into the foam matrix; however, after 4 weeks, and then quarter-annually, scent concentrate needs to be re-applied by injecting it into the polyurethane foam. Chemical analysis of the scent concentrate, undertaken by the research institute of food chemistry in Aachen, revealed the following composition: 60.7% butyric acid, 16% caproic acid, 7.8% oleic acid, 3.6% caprylic acid, and six other fatty acids.
Monitoring: Traffic accidents involving game animals were recorded for 3 years following setting up of the scent fence, and compared to the records of game-traffic accidents of the two previous years (1991-92) and during 1 year after the end of the trials (1996).
Five species of large mammal were recorded as killed in traffic accidents over the study period (wild boar Sus scrofa, red deer Cervus elaphus, roe deer Capreolus capreolus, red fox Vulpes vulpes and badger Meles meles). The number of these mammals killed in accidents during the years Duftzaun® was set up along the K55 did not statistically differ from that of the two years prior to, or the year after, the intervention. Results are summarised in Table 1 (kindly provided by the author; not presented in the original paper).
Tables 1a, b and c. Road accidents involving game along the K55.
|
Year
|
Species
|
Total
|
|
Wild boar
|
3
|
|
|
1991
|
Roe deer
|
11
|
|
Red fox
|
1
|
|
|
Total 1991
|
15
|
|
|
Wild boar
|
1
|
|
|
Roe deer
|
10
|
|
|
1992
|
Red fox
|
1
|
|
Red deer
|
1
|
|
|
Badger
|
1
|
|
|
Total 1992
|
14
|
|
Year
|
Species
|
Total
|
|
Wild boar
|
3
|
|
|
1993
|
Roe deer
|
19
|
|
Red fox
|
1
|
|
|
Red deer
|
1
|
|
|
Total 1993
|
24
|
|
|
Wild boar
|
3
|
|
|
1994
|
Roe deer
|
12
|
|
Red fox
|
2
|
|
|
Unknown
|
1
|
|
|
Total 1994
|
18
|
|
|
1995
|
Wild boar
|
3
|
|
Roe deer
|
14
|
|
|
Red fox
|
3
|
|
|
Total 1995
|
20
|
|
Year
|
Species
|
Total
|
|
1996
|
Wild boar
|
1
|
|
Roe deer
|
7
|
|
|
Red deer
|
1
|
|
|
Total 1996
|
9
|
Note: If using or referring to this published study, please quote the original paper. This German language paper, translated and summarised for Conservation Evidence, has a basic English and French abstract, and is available at: http://www.springerlink.com/content/7652231480170137/fulltext.pdf
