Road kill, carnage on our carriageways.

For a long time now I have disliked driving at night on roads with no street lighting. The amount of creatures I have almost killed is unbelievable. Over recent years I have noticed a steady increase in the numbers of dead animals and birds on the roads, so I got involved in several studies to ascertain how many animals are actually killed, and the impact of this on population numbers. The outcomes of these studies shocked me!

Across Britain, up to 100k hedgehogs a year, and this is a conservative estimate, are killed on roads. Hedgehogs are on the decline now and road kill is thought to be contributing to the problem. The numbers are even higher in some countries, 113k-340k in the Netherlands and 230k-350k in Belguim.

50k Badgers also die on our roads, although many are “placed” to look like road kill, when they are actually killed by badger baiters. Theses numbers are considered to be a health threat to the badger population.

We lose 5k barn owls, a number based on the recovery of ringed birds, and between 30- 70 million birds a year, many, including the house sparrow, are rare and endangered.

The most common animals found on roads are rabbits, pigeons, squirrels, foxes, deer, badgers, hedgehogs, cattle, horses, ponies, birds, toads, frogs, insects…including millions of moths, bees and butterflies. Many animals can suffer for hours and days even, having crawled away to die a long, painful death. Many of these animals are killed for fun and some are actually killed for food. Recipe books are springing up worldwide with recipes for road kill. A recent study broke down road kill on the roads in Britain, 81% were mammals, 15% birds, 3% reptiles and 1% indicernible.

In Florida, up to 20% of panthers are killed on roads along with millions of apes, bears and large cats worldwide.

In the US 41 million squirrels, 26 million cats, 22 million rats, 19 million oppossums, 15 million racoons, 6 million dogs and 350k deer are killed on roads each year.

Every year more and more roads are being built, and more cars are using them, which means the problem is steadily getting worse. We are now seeing an annual increase in road kill. Animals must cross roads  to reach breeding and hunting/feeding grounds and roads break up animal territory and habitat wholewide.

Roads with hedges and gardens are the most dangerous for birds as they feed and breed in close proximity to traffic. Many birds gravitate to busy roads to collect dead insects. Sharp bends are also bird blindspots. The worse time on the roads for animals is dawn, dusk and of course, nightime. Late spring is also a dangerous time for juveniles.

There are many ways to protect and conserve…fewer animals are killed on motorways without hedges and bushes as they harbour fewer birds.

Worldwide, many solutions are being tried. Bridges across roads, and tunnels beneath them make a huge difference. Wildlife crossings in Europe, Canada and the US have also proved successful. Fencing, large signs and good lighting can significantly reduce road kill, but fences do constict movement. Here, in Formby rope bridges have been strung across busy roads in an attempt to conserve the red squirrel. High trees across busy roads are also a good solution as they funnel birds across roads more safely.

I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to prevent roadkill, as I can then pass them on to the various groups who are working towards constructive solutions to the endless carnage on our roads.