...to be really pissed that my neighbour had put up electric fence?

[NiniLegsInTheAir]

Our neighbours (a mid 30s couple, no kids, no pets) have just had their 100ft garden 'landscaped'. Since they moved in 2 years ago they've left what was a gorgeous little space to ruin as they don't like gardening, and now they've had it redone to be as little maintenance as possible.

But as they've had their garden done, they've realised that all our gardens are frequently visited by badgers (and currently a family of foxes). It's a big deal having the animals as we're actually on the outskirts of a town centre so wouldn't expect to have such an abundance of wildlife. It doesn't bother me massively that the badgers sometimes dig holes in our lawn but our neighbours have taken massive offence to the possibility of badgers digging in their pristine lawn so have started trying all sorts to stop them gaining access.

They tried blocking holes - the badgers dug bigger ones in different places. They tried filling the holes with stones, they got moved.

Anyway - went out in the garden tonight to find they've put FUCKING ELECTRIC FENCING ALONG OUR BOUNDARY against the hedging that separates us. To say I'm livid is an understatement. I have a cat, as do many other neighbours, and a small DD who could easily gain access. They DIDNT EVEN TELL US THEY'D PUT THE ELECTRIC FENCING UP and I can't even ask as they've done it and gone abroad for 2 weeks!!!! FFS - if you don't want wildlife BUY A FUCKING FLAT!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, is it me overreacting or is this a massive overreaction on their part to a small problem?

Hmmm . . . what would the person who inspects your house if you want to be a childminder say about the safety aspect I wonder?

Electric fences are noisy, it would bug the hell out of me but I don't think there's much can be done (definitely no copper wire....)
As an aside, they won't harm anyone without heart problems, on a DofE walk once we snuck under one. All came through safely apart from my friend who decided not to take her pack off as we had all done, and came up with the fence stuck between her neck and pack. While we rolled around in laughter she kept getting jolts of (IIRC) 4V down her spine and screeching like a stuck pig. Lived to give us all grief about laughing instead of helping, though! Still makes me chuckle.

I think they'd say that Op should secure her boundaries to make sure that the children she was caring for couldn't get out of her garden.

I would imagine they'd be more concerned they were unsupervised for long enough to crawl through the HEDGE and onto next door's property and muck around with an electric fence.

How is it different than living next to a busy road? That's like questioning wether a child would crawl through the hedge onto the road - you wouldn't demand the road was closed off.

BalloonSlayer
Probably that the children should be kept in the childminders garden.
and the person who inspects shouldn't be wandering around next doors garden anyway.

Rather a lot of scaremongering going on here.

Yes that's what I thought, schoolgovernor that they would say that the onus is on the OP to stop any DCs getting at the fence.

Shame as I would also be as furious as the OP if my neighbours put one up. Irrational I know but electric fences make me think of concentration camps; they sit there zizzing with menace waiting to hurt something. I'd hate there to be one near my house or garden, I would be constantly on edge.

Have you ever been zapped by one balloon?

No! I'm too scared to go near one! Told you I was being irrational.

Though an ex of mine's Dad had an electric fence on his land and he told me that a sheep had got tangled up in it and had died. He and his Dad had to disentangle it, it was getting shock after shock - and I presumed that was what had killed it.

Soup dragon has a point about it possibly being a sonic fence. My bosses have a sonic thing in their garden, I can hear it but they not the kids can. If you are a young adult you'll be able to hear them, like those mosquito things they put in railway stations.

If it is an electric fence don't worry too much, I touched one of the horse ones a fe weeks back by accident and whilst it shocked, it didn't really hurt or anything! DP thought it was hilarious

I wouldn't be happy about a sonic or electric fence tbh.

A bit OTT of your neighbours

Do badgers attack?

Electric fence is a good idea. Keeps things that ruin gardens out in a non-lethal way. I suggest they put down poison for any children who get past it though.

If it is a sonic fence I bet it won't work - the badgers just sneered at my Grandad's one!

They are fecking huge as well!

Badgers will attack if they feel threatened, one did serious damage to my dog years ago.

Electric fences don't make that much noise, the ones surrounding my garden make a clicking noise every second when it sends the pulse through the wires.

Also I don't know how they can be responsible for killing hedgehogs, people don't lay them along the ground they have them at a height to stop certain animals getting in or out of a field. My neighbour has them at a height to stop wild boar getting into his pig field and contaminating his pigs, but my cats and certainly a small dog could fit under it.

There is an awful lot of scaremongering going on on this thread, OP if you keep your DD out of the hedge and from going into next door's garden she'll be fine. My own DCs were told from a very early age not to touch the fence it's electric, like I say DS had to check it every year but he touched it voluntarily because he's contrary like that. They don't impinge on our enjoyment of our garden and in fact make it better for us because we don't have to have fences at the bottom of our garden because the electric fence keeps the wildlife out and the dog in.

Oh FFS! Get a grip. What would you have said, if you liked your neighbours, and they put up EF because they decided to get horses?
I am country through and through but still wouldn't want foxes all over my property!
Electric fencing is low voltage. Even the mains version won't do you any harm.
There is absolutely nothing you can do about it, they are quite within their rights to put this fence up. It is within their boundary. You have a hedge between yourself and the fence. Let's face it, there is no way that your child should be able to touch this fence and if she does, she will be trespassing so tough! I suppose you'd complain if they built themselves a swimming pool, incase your child breached the hedge, avoided the electrics, fell in and drowned? Keep your child and your cat on your own property, and you won't have a problem.
As for the sabotage, if you earth out the fence, a warning light will flash up in the energiser. They will then check the fence line to find the problem. You will then be exposed as a twat.
You complain that they neglected the garden, then that they landscaped it in a fashion not to your liking. Well tough shit. Unless your name is on their deeds, WTF does it have to do with you?

The cat won't go anywhere near it - they're not daft.

Gardening is hard work if you don't enjoy it - seems perfectly sensible to have it landscaped to be easier to maintain. You sound very sneery OP, it's completely up to them how they have their garden.

You sound like a vermin loving townie, quite frankly!

Whats wrong with being a townie?

Nothing specifically but many Townies have a rose tinted view of wildlife.

My parents used to love the badgers in their garden and fed them. Until they tunnelled so extensively the garden began to subside, putting the shed/workshop buildings at risk. As i said, it cost over £2000 to get rid of the bloody things.

Quite soup