fladry

n.pl. a string of flags used to contain or exclude wild animals. Also attributively: fladry line, fladry barrier. Subjects: Polish, Environment

Editorial Note: In English fladry tends to be used in the plural only, meaning you can have “some fladry,” very rarely “a fladry,” and never “some fladries.” In French, however, des fladries is acceptable. The word is also used in German and Italian. Etymological Note: According to Polish Scientific Publishers (Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, SA), fladry is the plural of flader, which comes from German. It is not specified which German word, but it’s probably related to flattern ‘to flutter.’ It is probably not related to the Polish flądry, the plural of flądra, which according to the Oxford PWN Polish English Dictionary (2002, Oxford University Press) means “1. flounder, flatfish; 2. slattern, slut.”

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Citations: 1997 Henryk Okarma, Wlodzimierz Jedrzejewski Wildlife Society Bulletin (Apr. 1) “Livetrapping wolves with nets” vol. 25, no. 1, p. 78: The necessity for developing safe and humane methods of livetrapping wolves, especially for researching wolves in Europe, is discussed. The use and success of nets and fladry are examined as alternative trapping techniques. 1998 Sarah French Northern Echo (July 18) “A love affair with the Big Bad Wolf” p. 17: The wolves are captured by a ten kilometre area being cordoned off with flag lines (known as a fladry)—the wolves for some reason never try to cross it. 1998 New York Times Mag. (Nov. 22) “Sic ‘Em, Eeyore” p. 27: Fladry: Used to trap wolves in Poland, fladry is an attempt to induce wolf skittishness using lines of little plastic flags—like the ones that flap in a used-car lot. 2003 Jorn Theuerkauf, Wlodzimierz Jedrzejewski, Krzysztof Schmidt, Henryk Okarma Journal of Mammalogy (Feb. 1) “Daily patterns and duration of wolf activity in the Bialowieza forest, Poland” vol. 84, no. 1, p. 243: Wolves usually avoid crossing lines of fladry and can therefore be driven by a line of beaters toward nets set on 1 side of an area surrounded by fladry. 2005 Alisen Charlten Jasper Booster (Alberta, Can.) (Sept. 21) “Sierra Club criticizes Parks’ caribou plan”: He also noted the use of a technique called “fladry,” which incorporates fabric streamers as a barrier (similar to those on elk-proof fences around town) to deter wolves from using the trails.

Posted 27 Sep 05 | Permalink | Tell a Friend