"Roadkill" collisions cost California
$276 million in 2016: scientists
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[September 08, 2017]
By Sharon Bernstein
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - The number of deer and other large
animals killed or injured by California motorists jumped 20 percent in
2016 in accidents that killed five people, led drivers to put themselves
in harm's way trying to save the animals, and cost society about $276
million, a new study shows.
About 7,400 animals were killed or injured in collisions last year, up
from 5950 in 2015, the first year that the UC Davis Center for Road
Ecology began using data from the California Highway Patrol (CHP) to
track wildlife collisions and their costs.
"The CHP is saying people are very upset, concerned and even putting
themselves in harm's way to ensure that injured animals are taken care
of," said Fraser Shilling, co-director of the UC Davis Road Ecology
Center and the report's co-author. "They find people crying and cradling
the animal, people stopping traffic around the animal."
According to the report, large wild animals involved in traffic
incidents in 2016 included 6,119 mule deer, 377 coyotes, 135 black
bears, 44 elk, 43 mountain lions and 21 wild pigs. About 2700 of the
animals died.
In 2015, vehicles struck 5408 mule deer, 361 coyotes and 89 black bears
according to the data, which Shilling said represents very conservative
estimates.
The increase was mostly driven by a jump in deer population after the
end of California's five-year drought, Shilling said.

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People are also frequently injured in these crashes, the report
showed. In 2016, 285 people suffered minor injuries in collisions
involving large wild animals, up from 235 in 2015, the report
showed. Sixty-two people received major injuries in the crashes in
2016, up from 44 the prior year. Five people were killed both years.
Using cost estimates from insurance companies, Shilling and his
co-authors calculated that the total cost to California of all of
the incidents in 2016 was $276 million, up from about $225 million
the year before.

He compared those costs with the price of building fencing and
animal crossings along the roads where many of the animal-involved
collisions take place and concluded that, although expensive, such
structures would pay for themselves within a couple of years.
On I-280 near San Francisco, for example, building fences along a
23-mile stretch where more than 400 animal-involved accidents took
place over the past two years would cost $4.6 million, Shilling
estimated.
But the toll on people, animals and property of those accidents
totaled $20 million, he said.
(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein)
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