The Wildlife Collision Prevention Program (WCPP) has announced an expansion of its campaign to educate the driving public about the dangers of vehicle collisions with bighorn sheep and other wildlife and how this type of collision can be prevented.

Radio ads are airing in the East Kootenay during November and a billboard with a safety message has been located along Highway 95 between Radium Hot Springs and Invermere. The billboard says, “Watch for Wildlife – Use Caution!” and is intended to remind drivers to pay attention to traditional wildlife warning signs, and actively watch out for wildlife on the road.

The billboard location was chosen due to the presence of bighorn sheep near the ‘Mile Hill’ stretch of Highway 97 south of Radium.

“The Mile Hill is a high risk area for collisions with bighorn sheep,” says Barb Waters, Regional Manager, BC Conservation Foundation. “The combination of increasing speed on a long straight stretch by uphill and downhill traffic and the concentration of bighorns due to terrain and habitat features makes it a hot spot for bighorn sheep vehicle collisions.”

The radio ad project is a partnership between the Wildlife Collision Prevention Program and the Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program, a joint initiative of BC Hydro, the Province of B.C., and Fisheries and Oceans Canada. “With our partners, we have transplanted bighorn sheep, and undertaken habitat restoration work, to support declining herds south of Canal Flats,” says FWCP senior wildlife biologist John Krebs. “Provincially, Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep are blue-listed (vulnerable), so we urge drivers to slow down to reduce sheep mortality on the roads.”

Drivers should be aware that although bighorn sheep are most active in the day and generally bed down at night, a collision could occur at any time. Drivers must be extra alert during the low light periods at the beginning and end of the day. Poor visibility for drivers, erratic bighorn behaviour during the rut and weather conditions like fog and icy conditions can all play a part in high collision rates with bighorn during the fall.

The Wildlife Collision Prevention Program reminds drivers that fall and winter are high-risk times for all kinds of wildlife-vehicle collisions, because wildlife tends to move towards valley bottoms when forage higher up in the mountains is depleted. Many road corridors are also built in valley bottoms, and when motorists and wildlife use the same travel corridors, it leads to increased collisions. In the winter, wildlife is attracted to roadsides because of roadside salt deposits and ease of movement.

Visit www.wildlifecollisions.ca for more information.

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