I've started this project out of curiosity of the impacts of roadways on the wildlife in our province. Just driving daily to Mactaquac, every week there seems to be some new road fatality. DNR probably already has a data system for this, but I thought it would be neat to see how the public may be able to collect a broader data set if the group gets large enough. This project may also provide ...more ↓
I've started this project out of curiosity of the impacts of roadways on the wildlife in our province. Just driving daily to Mactaquac, every week there seems to be some new road fatality. DNR probably already has a data system for this, but I thought it would be neat to see how the public may be able to collect a broader data set if the group gets large enough. This project may also provide insight into the patterns and vulnerabilities of certain wildlife to being killed on a roadway, or which roadways have the most fatalities. These insights could lead to evidence to suggest more measures should be taken at those locations to reduce fatalities. This could mean fencing if it is not already present, wildlife crossing of different designs, or perhaps reduced speed limits in certain sections of roadway.
I have now realized that there are other projects that look at dead AND alive wildlife on the road ways in all of the Maritimes. However, I will keep this project as a streamlined look at dead animals on the roadways in NB only.
"Annually in New Brunswick, approximately 2,000 deer, 400 moose and 100 bears are killed in collisions with motor vehicles," said Kelly Cormier, a spokesperson for the Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development.
(Nova Scotia) DNR says from 2012 to 2017, 1,265 deer were struck by cars — the most of any one species. During the same period, 24 bears, 20 coyotes, 19 barred owls, 16 moose, 14 raccoons, 13 bobcats and 11 bald eagles were reported hit. That's just a sampling of the animals killed by vehicles, according to the department.
As a default for all observations, please include a picture if possible, the location it was found, and annotate it as dead. Some observation fields are required and others strongly suggested. For more valuable observations, you could even include life stage or sex (if identifiable). The temperature and recent precipitation could indicate why some animals would be on the road way. Other helpful things would be to have a picture of the roadway at the location of the roadkill.
Always be careful when taking observations of animals on roads!
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/roadkill-deaths-driving-some-species-to-the-edge-1.4343495
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