Stop the Carnage on America’s Public Lands - More Info
Yellowstone National Park has experienced an unprecedented rash of wildlife casualties from road-kill in recent years. During the summer of 2004, six bears, including a grizzly and three black bear cubs, were victims of car crashes – the highest total that has ever been recorded at the park.
A study conducted in Arizona’s Saguaro National Park found that a staggering number of animals are being killed on roads flanking and dissecting the park – up to 53,000 vertebrates every year.
And during a three-year study involving a single highway that bisects the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin, biologists found 4244 dead animals, representing 91 species.
Off-Road Vehicle Destruction: Off-Road Vehicle (ORV) enthusiasts have invaded national parks and forests, causing environmental devastation and routing and destroying untold numbers of animals. Wildlife protection groups have fought for years to stop the ORV abuse at Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina, where dirt bikes, ATVs, and dune buggies run roughshod over the delicate sandy beaches and the animals and birds who burrow and nest on the shoreline.
What you can do:
When driving, take steps to minimize the danger to animals. Wildlife could be helped immeasurably if drivers would just keep some tips in mind:
- Assume that animals do not know to get out of your way. Young animals, in particular, do not recognize cars as a threat.
- Slow down, especially after dark. Countless animals become victims simply because people drive too fast to avoid hitting them, or too close to the car in front to see animals in time.
- Scan the road as you drive, watching the edges for wildlife about to cross.
- Lower your dashboard lights slightly. You’ll be more likely to see your headlights reflected in the eyes of animals in time to brake.
- Remember that where there is one animal crossing, there may be others—young animals following their mother or male animals pursuing a mate