I'm desperate.  Does anyone have that thing they advertise on tv that supposedly scares animals away?

Not sure which one you are thinking of, but it probably doesn't work for more than a few days till the critters get used to it.

There is one device that does work it is called a Scare Crow.
It is connected to a garden hose and when the critter breaks the beam it activates a impulse lawn sprinkler.
Al

If you don't want to deal with netting, and you can live with letting the birds eat most of your figs while you get just a few, you might consider using newspaper covers or fabric sleeves to protect some of the fruit.

Tom--That's a very nice-looking, practical set-up.