Increasing Wildlife Deaths Due to Vehicles

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 6:07 am

December 22, 2007

As Cars Hit More Animals on Roads, Toll Rises

By JIM ROBBINS

BOZEMAN, Mont. — On a dark highway near Anchorage, Specialist Steven Cavanaugh of the Army, who had survived 300 missions in Iraq, was critically injured in December when his vehicle hit a moose. Specialist Cavanaugh died Dec. 6.

In the early morning darkness in Lincoln, Mont., in October, a pickup slammed into a 830-pound grizzly bear. The driver survived, but the bear was among seven grizzlies — a record for one year — killed by vehicles this year statewide.

Wildlife-related crashes are a growing problem on rural roads around the country. The accidents increased 50 percent from 1990 to 2004, based on the most recent federal data, according to the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University here.

The basic problem is that rural roads are being traveled by more and more people, many of them living in far-flung subdivisions. Each year, about 200 people are killed in as many as two million wildlife-related crashes at a cost of more than $8 billion, the institute estimated in a report prepared for the National Academies of Science.

Ninety percent of the accidents occur on rural two-lane roads, and the most common animal involved is a deer.

“I knew it was a big bear, but I didn’t know it was a grizzly, said Steve Sandru, the driver who hit the bear near Lincoln on the way to his job as a logger. “A grizzly was the last thing I expected to see.

The human death toll has risen from 111 in 1995 to around 200 in 2005, the most recent year for which figures are available. Officials say better designed highways would help lower the number.

“If you reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions, you would in all likelihood reduce fatalities, said Rob Ament, research director for the Western Transportation Institute. “The priority would be to treat the hot spots, the areas with the most accidents.

In addition to the loss of life, the accidents can be expensive. The average cost of a deer collision is $8,000, including repair, towing and cleaning up the carcass, while hitting an elk averages $18,000. If the driver strikes a much larger moose, expenses average about $30,000.

The total cost of the accidents to insurance companies exceeds $1 billion a year, the institute estimates. Pennsylvania has the most vehicle-wildlife crashes. Drivers there struck nearly 97,000 deer in the last half of 2005 and first half of 2006, according to estimates by State Farm, the insurance company.

In the report prepared for the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Science, the Montana institute said the number of wildlife crashes was far greater than federal statistics suggested — about 300,000 crashes involving wildlife are reported to the authorities a year — because many of the accidents are reported only to insurance companies.

In recent years, the institute estimates based on insurance industry data, the number of crashes ranged from one million to two million.

Marcel Huijser, a researcher in Missoula, Mont., who prepared the report for the Montana institute, said underreporting of the accidents hindered efforts to prevent them.

Mr. Huijser added, “If you build a wildlife crossing in the wrong location, they won’t use it or use it to the extent you want them to.

In a separate report delivered to Congress in November , the institute recommended ways to reduce wildlife-related accidents, including the construction of underpasses and overpasses with fences to keep wildlife off highways and directed toward safer crossings. Other methods include culling animals in places where accidents are numerous and “break-the-beam systems, in which animals are fitted with collars that set off flashing lights when they approach a road.

Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada, has been a large laboratory for studying measures to prevent such collisions, which had been frequent on a four-lane highway that runs through the park in the heart of the wildlife-rich Canadian Rockies. Officials there have built 24 underpasses and overpasses, and the changes have reduced collisions by more than 80 percent, park officials said.

Researchers in Montana are conducting similar experiments along a stretch of Interstate 90 near Bozeman. They have built fences and an underpass to allow animals safe passage.

If they could duplicate the results in Banff, said Mr. Ament of the Western Transportation Institute, few animals and people would die and there would be substantial monetary savings as well.

“Wildlife accidents on Bozeman Pass cost the public a million a year in crash costs, Mr. Ament said. “With an 80 percent reduction, that would be $800,000 in savings a year.

The accidents can also take a toll on precarious wildlife populations. The report prepared for Congress found that vehicle collisions were a major source of mortality for 21 federally endangered or threatened species, like the red wolf, kit fox, Key deer and Florida panther.

“It’s a new and dubious record, Chris Servheen, grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the federal Fish and Wildlife Service, said of the seven grizzlies killed this year on Montana roads. “There are more bears and everybody drives faster, and so roads are more of a problem.

While the accidents are not threatening the bears’ long-term survival, Mr. Servheen said, they do threaten the species’ ability to expand its range.

The animal deaths can also be traumatic for many people.

In November, a truck driver plowed through a herd of bighorn sheep on Highway 200 near Thompson Falls, Mont. The sheep often congregate there because they eat a salty de-icer the highway department sprays on a treacherous stretch of road. More than 350 wild sheep have been killed here since 1985.

Despite numerous warning signs with flashing lights, witnesses say the truck’s brake lights never came on as it drove through the herd, killing five adult ewes and two lambs. The driver was not injured. An investigator with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks is looking into the accident to see if charges are warranted.

“A lot of people in Thompson Falls take pride in these sheep and are pretty upset, said Bruce Sterling, a wildlife biologist with the state in Thompson Falls.

Pheasy · Post by **Pheasy** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 6:24 am

People here say that the hunting of deer helps to control the population thus causing less road accidents involving deer. Firstly, I would say that there is far more humane ways of controlling the population. Also, it is during hunting season that the deer here are running crazy and all over the place. There are more accidents involving deer during hunting season than any other time.

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 6:26 am

Yeah- I'll bet it's the hunters who are saying that. I agree there are more humane ways than shooting them to death. I know who's gonna be in this thread like a lightning bolt.

Pheasy · Post by **Pheasy** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 6:38 am

Just this morning we had to go in our yard and help a trapped deer. A herd came running out of the woods, where there were gun shots, onto our developments and were running crazy and panicking. Somehow one got into our yard (which is all fenced in for the dogs), and could not get out. Every day they are running crazy now , petrified!!

And another thing! I called the police the other day about someone shooting close to our house. The police said he was shooting on his own property so it was ok. Well I thought there was laws about shooting within a certain distance of peoples homes!!!

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 6:39 am

Unfortunately animals die but thats the deal when people and animals co-habitate. I live amongst deer and I see as many dead as I do alive. Id prefer to see them frolicking and eating berries. When I ride my motorcycle or drive my car in the early am hours I expect a deer to shoot in front of me. In my car hed be the casualty. On my motorcycle I would be.

Fair trade I suppose.

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 6:50 am

I was taught that if you see one shoot out onto the road, brace for more. That there are one or two more to follow.

Pheasy, I thought there were laws about shooting range too. I'd look into that. He may be on his property but you and your neighbors don't need to be brought down by his stray bullet. Why are people such total dumbasses about these things?!! You don't shoot in the neighborhood! God!

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 6:51 am

Shoot out on to the road ?

If theres oncoming traffic the deers goin down.

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 7:00 am

See I could never do that. That's one reason why I choose not to drive. I would be a mess.

Whenever there's a collision, some doofus always says "Man that deer did six grand worth of damage to mah truck!" Like I care about that. What about the deer's suffering? It pisses me off to no end how people say that.

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 7:03 am

RedGlitter;744600 wrote: See I could never do that. That's one reason why I choose not to drive. I would be a mess.

Whenever there's a collision, some doofus always says "Man that deer did six grand worth of damage to mah truck!" Like I care about that. What about the deer's suffering? It pisses me off to no end how people say that.

You would do it. If traffic was coming head on and you have one second to decide your instincts would kick in. And while you would feel horrible about the deer if you had $300.00 monthly car pymts. you would also cringe at the damage on your car.

Thats ok.

CARLA · Post by **CARLA** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 9:17 am

I have been to Bozeman Montana several times and there is hardly anyone on the road ever. The Deer just cross the road it seems right in front of the only car on the road. :-5 Most time you can slam on the brakes and miss them. If it is at night whoops the Deer goes down.

Sheryl · Post by **Sheryl** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 9:40 am

Swerving to miss hitting an animal can cause you to have a wreck and injure yourself worse than just hitting the animal. I'm bad a ducking when a bird fly up in front of my car. Freaking pheasants are the worse, and if they do hit your windshield, you'll need a new one.

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 9:45 am

I saw a photo of a guy that hit a deer in his pickup. The deer came through the windshield.

The head and upper torso were on the passenger seat with the entrails on the floor. Can you imagine ?

CARLA · Post by **CARLA** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 10:03 am

I have an old friend who lives in Bolder Montana. He owns(owned now retired) a Gas Station and has been to many a Deer encounter. The front end on his old Chevy Truck is something to marvel at. Deer proofing to the max, I have acutally driven it many times and it awesome, nothing going to get in your way as you move on down the road.

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 10:13 am

CARLA;744737 wrote: I have an old friend who lives in Bolder Montana. He owns(owned now retired) a Gas Station and has been to many a Deer encounter. The front end on his old Chevy Truck is something to marvel at. Deer proofing to the max, I have acutally driven it many times and it awesome, nothing going to get in your way as you move on down the road.

Moose are another story. They will destroy anything.

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 10:16 am

Nomad;744606 wrote: You would do it. If traffic was coming head on and you have one second to decide your instincts would kick in. And while you would feel horrible about the deer if you had $300.00 monthly car pymts. you would also cringe at the damage on your car.

Thats ok.

Being me, I'd get over the car, that's replaceable, but knowing I killed a deer would ruin me. I'm not saying it doesn't upset people when they hit something. I'm saying for me it would be a life altering experience.

Pheasy · Post by **Pheasy** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 10:18 am

Sheryl;744707 wrote: Swerving to miss hitting an animal can cause you to have a wreck and injure yourself worse than just hitting the animal. I'm bad a ducking when a bird fly up in front of my car. Freaking pheasants are the worse, and if they do hit your windshield, you'll need a new one.

:eek::eek:

CARLA · Post by **CARLA** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 10:19 am

This is true Nomie but Moose don't seem to wander in the road as much as Deer for some reason, they wander down the main streets in towns. :-3

[QUOTE]Moose are another story. They will destroy anything.[/QUOTE]

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 10:41 am

RedGlitter;744748 wrote: Being me, I'd get over the car, that's replaceable, but knowing I killed a deer would ruin me. I'm not saying it doesn't upset people when they hit something. I'm saying for me it would be a life altering experience.

You could eat it so its not a complete waste.