Barbed Wire

What is the point of the stuff!?!??!?!? I can't imagine any animal running up to a barbed wire fence and stopping, saying ''Oooo, I better not go through there, I might cut myself.''

Yesterday afternoon, along a public footpath Woody came careening back to me and got tangled up in a barbed wire fence. This has happened before so luckily I managed to get him to relax while I un-tangled him (cutting my hand in the process). He now has several cuts along his tummy and little chap and a few big gashes on his front legs!

It makes me so mad. We've spent the whole evening trying to get him to stop licking and one of the wounds looks very sore!

I'm thinking it would actually be sensible to go out armed with a decent pair of wire cutters, does anyone else do this? Anyone agree that it is a nightmare?

Poor Woody Bear ;o(

Yep hate the stuff! Have seen horses stuck in the stuff it is lethal cos once they are tangled and they struggle the barb just digs in deeper and deeper.
IMO it should not ever be used to keep animals in or out.....I do know of farmers that use it tho and they say it is to deter human tresspassers more than anything!

Poor Woody, hope they are just superficial wounds. Licks from the gang xx

Thank HM, although no more licking for him! I might have to dig out the Buster collar!

But it's so easy for humans to get over and in the areas where it's used around here that would never be necessary.

I wonder if it was an 80s quick fix and no one has ever bothered to replace it. There are coils of the stuff in some fields near us, lethal for any small animals.

Oopps, wrong choice of words!!!

Awww poor Woodster, hope he heals soon and your hand

poor boy
I agree the` stuff is cruel - and what is it keeping out that a decent fence wouldnt?

Poor Woody

Im guessing it was the same walk that Kayley got her self wrapped up in last week.

Hope some of the soreness has gone and he is feeling better.

Hi,

I hope you and Woody heal up soon. Keep an eye on his cuts to make sure they don't get infected too.

If the barbed wire is in a place easily accessible to the public, without any warning signs (I know dogs aren't gonna read 'em) then you could have grounds for a legal case against the owner of the land where the wire is.

I have barbed wire and also razor wire around my garden - nowhere near where ANY animals, even small furry ones can hurt themselves (not that we get any with half a dozen dogs living here). It's all well out of reach of anyone and anything. There are signs up on the outside of my fences so should anyone decide to climb over they'll be aware in advance that the wire is there. There is also a liability notice so I can't be sued should someone decide to try to get in and tear themselves to bits.

However, I get the impression that where Woody got hurt was in a place where the wire could've been for ages and there aren't any signs up to say it's there. So unless you know it's there, there's no way of avoiding it.

Is it worth speaking with the land owner, even if it's the local authority, to see if it can be replaced with something more obvious and less dangerous, given it's position?

Laura xx

Oh please We don't want to become like the US - suing anyone for anything

Barbed wire used to be used regularly to keep cattle enclosed but you won't often see new barbed wire fences put up - as electric seems to be used more frequently these days.

Don't get me wrong, I hate barbed wire too and will be glad when there is none of the stuff around, but surely Woody must have been leaping the fence to get caught up in it?

[QUOTE=Moobli;1827717]Oh please We don't want to become like the US - suing anyone for anything

Barbed wire used to be used regularly to keep cattle enclosed but you won't often see new barbed wire fences put up - as electric seems to be used more frequently these days.

Don't get me wrong, I hate barbed wire too and will be glad when there is none of the stuff around, but surely Woody must have been leaping the fence to get caught up in it?[/QUOTE]

We have tons of it around here, most of it old and rusty, hanging down on the ground, places where animals haven't been for many years, just set aside fields really, that we've taken over for our dogwalking, or rather, the council has GIVEN us for our dog walking, putting car parks there for us and dog bins. This has been my worst fear too when they see rabbits, and the other morning, Zena came from the car park and just leaped through the bottom two rungs for no apparent reason other than to start our walk when the path is right next to it , I couldn't believe she did that, but thankfully, no harm was done and she's big!

I don't think there's a lot you can do about it quite honestly, the farmers own the land, they are entitled to put up barbed wire, whereas for residential use it's pretty illegal unless it's 20ft or so in the air, and razor wire is definitely illegal, and if anybody breaks into your residential property which has any of the above on it, then they can sue you for damages! You can't sue a farmer for damages to your dog though, because he's entitled to have it surrounding his fields, that's what it's for, it's cheap, it's c*ap and it should be banned, but sadly that will never happen coz of the price of it!

I would definitely carry a pair of wire cutters on my walk if it meant freeing my dog if he was inclined to go through these fences though! He's tresspassing too and also runs the risk of being shot if he IS going through it???? Mind you, having said that, if somebody saw you cutting it, I suppose it could be reported to the farmer and you'd end up paying out for a whole new strip of fencing, so that's worth thinking about too, but if it were me, I'd always carry a pair!