FENCE AFFECTS ENDANGERED ANIMALS

[Anchor Lead]

The government has been building a 1,000 kilometer fence in the mountains of Gangwon-do Province since 2019 to stop wild boars from spreading African Swine Fever. But endangered species such as the long-tailed goral are suffering from this fence.

[Pkg]

This is a hilly road linking Goseong and Inje in Gangwon-do Province. A wild animal keeps butting the fence. It’s a mountain goat, Korea’s natural monument and a critically endangered species.

[Soundbite] Park Gwan-yong(Witness) : "I felt sorry for the goral that was stuck between the fence and the road barrier and trying to get to the other side."

A dog confronts a goral before suddenly attacking it.

[Soundbite] "Stop it! Hey! Hey!"

The man who was recording the scene jumped over the fence to stop the dog, but the goral was already dead from the attack. Since 2019, the central and local governments have been building a fence spanning 848 kilometers to prevent the spread of African swine fever by keeping out infected wild boars. Such fences are set up two to three layers deep along the city and countryside borders. The wire mesh is so tightly woven that most wild animals cannot go through it. Consequently, wild animals cannot move freely from one place to another and are often forced to cross the roads.

[Soundbite] Jo Beom-jun(Bureau Director, Wild Korea) : "Wild animals move about to propagate and find food. But the fences interfere with their breeding, eventually leading to their extinction. Building these fences should be considered very carefully."

The environment ministry claimed that it had predicted such environmental side effects, but had to build the fence to urgently halt the transmission of ASF. The ministry, however, has vowed to find solutions to the problem.