Roadkill is a horrific yet common problem that affects many different species of animals, but some animals are more susceptible to being hit by cars than others. Here are some of the animals that are most commonly hit by cars:

Deer
Deer are one of the most commonly hit animals on the road, and they're often hit by cars when crossing the road or when startled by vehicles.
 
Opossums
Opossums are also commonly hit by cars, and they're often killed when crossing the road at night.
 
Raccoons
Raccoons are another animal that is frequently hit by cars, and they're often killed when crossing the road or when rummaging through garbage near the road.
 
Squirrels
Squirrels are often hit by cars when running across the road or when they're chasing each other.
 
Skunks
Skunks are also commonly hit by cars, and they're often killed when crossing the road or when foraging for food near the road.

With so many animals killed on the road every year (at least one million a day, by some estimates). there's a great case to be made for wildlife crossings.

In addition to these animals, many other species of wildlife, including birds, snakes, and turtles, are frequently hit by cars. To help prevent roadkill, it's important to be alert and cautious when driving, especially in areas where wildlife is likely to be present. By slowing down and being more aware, we can help reduce the number of animals that are killed on the road.

Roadkill is a common and tragic problem that affects both wildlife and humans. It occurs when animals are hit and killed by vehicles on the road, and it can have serious consequences for the animals involved as well as for the drivers and passengers in the vehicles.

Fortunately, there are steps we can take to prevent roadkill and protect both wildlife and human safety. Here are some tips for how to prevent roadkill:
 
Slow down
One of the most effective ways to prevent roadkill is to slow down and be more cautious when driving. This is especially important when driving in areas where wildlife is likely to be present, such as in rural or forested areas.
 
Be alert and watch for wildlife
Always be on the lookout for animals on or near the road, and be prepared to slow down or stop if necessary. This is especially important at dawn and dusk, when many animals are most active.
 
Use your headlights
Turn on your headlights when driving at night, even if you don't think there are any animals nearby. This will help you see animals on or near the road, and it will also make your vehicle more visible to other drivers.
 
Avoid distractions
Distracted driving is a major cause of road accidents, and it can increase the risk of hitting an animal on the road. Avoid using your phone or other distractions while driving, and always keep your eyes on the road.
 
Report roadkill
If you see an animal that has been killed on the road, report it to the appropriate authorities. This can help them identify areas where roadkill is a problem, and it can also help them take steps to prevent future incidents.

By following these tips, you can help prevent roadkill and protect both wildlife and human safety. It's important to remember that we all have a responsibility to share the road with wildlife, and by being more aware and cautious, we can make a big difference.

​ Find out more about wildlife crossings  and a future free from roadkill.

Protecting wildlife habitat is essential for the preservation of biodiversity and the health of our planet. Habitat destruction is a major threat to wildlife, and it is caused by a variety of factors, including urbanization, deforestation, and climate change.

Here are some ways that you can help protect wildlife habitat:
 
Support conservation organizations
There are many organizations that work to protect wildlife habitat, and by supporting them financially, you can help them carry out their important work. You can also volunteer your time and talents to help with conservation efforts.

Protect and restore natural areas
You can help protect wildlife habitat by supporting efforts to protect and restore natural areas, such as forests, wetlands, and grasslands. This can include supporting conservation organizations that work to acquire and protect natural areas, as well as participating in habitat restoration projects.

Be a responsible consumer
The products we buy can have a big impact on wildlife habitat. By choosing products that are sustainably sourced and produced, you can help protect habitat and support conservation efforts.

Reduce your carbon footprint
Climate change is a major threat to wildlife habitat, and one of the best ways to protect habitat is to reduce our carbon emissions. This can include reducing your energy consumption, using renewable energy sources, and supporting policies that address climate change.

Educate others
One of the most effective ways to protect wildlife habitat is to educate others about the importance of habitat conservation. You can do this by sharing information about the threats to habitat and the ways that individuals can help protect it.

By taking these steps, you can help protect wildlife habitat and support the conservation of biodiversity. This is essential for the health and well-being of our planet, and it's something we all can do to make a difference.

Find out more about certifying your habitat to help wildlife. 
You may also be interested in becoming a champion for wildlife. 

If you're a nature lover, you may want to help wildlife in your garden. There are many ways you can do this, and even small steps can make a big difference. Here are some tips for how to help wildlife in your garden.

Plant native species of plants.
Native plants are those that naturally grow in your area, and they provide important food and shelter for local wildlife. By planting native species in your garden, you can create a habitat for birds, insects, and other animals.

Provide food and water for wildlife.
You can do this by putting out bird feeders, birdbaths, and other sources of food and water. This will attract a variety of animals to your garden, and it will provide them with the sustenance they need to survive.

Create a safe haven for wildlife.
​You can do this by providing hiding places for animals, such as piles of leaves or logs. You can also install nest boxes or birdhouses to provide shelter for birds and other small animals.

Avoid using pesticides and other chemicals.
These substances can be harmful to wildlife, and they can contaminate the food chain. Instead of using chemicals, try using natural methods to control pests, such as attracting beneficial insects or hand-picking pests off of plants.
​
Be patient and observant.
Wildlife is shy, and it may take time for animals to become accustomed to your garden. Be patient, and watch for signs of wildlife, such as tracks or droppings. This will help you understand which animals are visiting your garden, and it will give you an idea of how to make your garden even more welcoming to them.

By taking these steps, you can create a wildlife-friendly garden that provides food, shelter, and safety for a variety of animals. This can be a rewarding and educational experience, and it can help you connect with the natural world around you.

Find out more about certifying your habitat to help wildlife. 
You may also be interested in becoming a champion for wildlife. 

​The I-90 freeway also slices through the Cascade Mountains and connected ecosystems relied upon by treasured wildlife such as elk, wolverine, bear, deer, fox, and myriad species with habitat requirements—much like our own human need to move around our own neighborhoods and get to the grocery store and go about our daily lives.
 
Yet the animals are getting cut off by the I-90 corridor. They’re deterred by the traffic and the noise, for one thing, which affects their ability to roam in search of mates, food, and necessary territory for species survival. And of course, there are wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVCs) every year, causing damage and death to animals and humans. 

Cascade Crossroads is a documentary telling of how the I-90 Wildlife Bridges Coalition was formed of people from different organizations and people of all persuasions, working  together to develop a forward-thinking plan that included multiple wildlife overpasses and underpasses and whose work became a shining example of what can happen when business, community and government work collaboratively. 

Spearheaded by an organization called Conservation Northwest and a collaborative effort that ultimately involved some 17,000 people and millions of dollars in funding, The Cascades Conservation Partnership helped secure 45,000 protected acres of National Forest Land for reconstruction of I-90. Out of this effort came the Wildlife Bridges Coalition, which included AAA Washington, Sierra Club, and many others. 

Imagine the early days of this group, starting with representatives from road safety and wildlife protection as well as engineers at Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). There was a great deal of mistrust from the start, a lack of acceptance of the environmental engineers, for one, because of their conventional way of doing things. They were challenged with: What would it take to do it differently? To design something with wildlife in mind? 

Deer using underpass, safely avoiding overhead traffic

It took some time. The coalition went out and engaged the public, including young children, by creating the “Bridging Futures Coloring Project.” With kids involved in understanding the importance of connected habitat and wildlife bridges and underpasses, parents became educated and there was an evolution of thinking. Ultimately, when the coalition’s environmental impact statement was published, it received 1300 comments—all favorable and encouraging of ecological connectivity.

Deer using underpass at night, averting dusk and dawn collisions

​The group went on to study snow tracking of animals. They tracked how animals approached the highway, where they stopped, where they went around or tried to cross. Further studies were done in Banff, Canada, which has a total of 44 wildlife crossing structures and since 1996 has engaged in the continuous research and monitoring of these crossings. Based on all of its findings and research, the coalition provided analysis and development recommendations, and much to its surprise, the suggestions were well received and all ideas were opted for. 

At the close of 2019 Snoqualmie Pass East project has seen some of the first wildlife overpasses built and already some wildlife “wins” as seen in the photos of the many elk, deer, and other animals readily using the structures. 

​The Snoqualmie Pass will ultimately include overcrossings and underpasses that are 156-feet wide, 60-feet tall, and span six lanes of traffic. They’ll be fully vegetated so that as wildlife move across they’ll never even know they’re over a highway! To encourage new plant growth, the Forest Service is planting thousands of native plants every year to provide food sources for wildlife and to encourage survival of species. All aspects of the project should be complete by 2029.
 
You can also find out more about the Cascade Crossroads documentary and how to use it to inspire action in your own community.

Like this article? Share it with someone who loves wildlife! And we'd love your feedback and comments below.

​In case you haven’t heard, LA is soon to be home to the largest wildlife bridge on the planet. That’s right, a bridge that’s some 30 years in the making will span 10 lanes of Highway 101 at Liberty Canyon. The 200-foot-high nature bridge will reconnect a segment of the Santa Monica Mountains and an entire ecosystem that has been disrupted by roads and urban sprawl that has led to habitat loss and fragmentation, which has contributed to steady decline and near extinction of the California mountain lion.

​At the annual P-22 Day Festival and Urban Wildlife Week in October to celebrate urban environmentalism and “the Brad Pitt” of California mountain lions—a handsome LA cougar affectionately known as P-22 who has his own Facebook page—Give Wildlife a Brake caught up with the co-director of CLAW (Citizens of Los Angeles for Wildlife), Andrew Lasken, to learn more about the wildlife corridor movement in California. CLAW is leading the way in promoting wildlife protection and also educating the public about the importance of connected habit for wildlife, in Los Angeles and beyond.

Lasken provides a great habit loss and fragmentation definition in this short video clip and also mentions simple solutions for developers, such as “buffers” (not building all the way back to the edge of a plot, but leaving room for animals to move about).

• Connected habitat advocacy. The organization has been instrumental in advocating for a Wildlife Habitat Linkage Zone—to bring attention to open space habitat on private land that could potentially be developed and further disrupt already fragile habitat in the region.

 

• Land preservation for wildlife corridors. Another massive success in reversing habitat loss and fragmentation was the Let’s Buy a Mountain campaign, a coordinated effort between CLAW and conservation partners. A wildlife cam documented myriad species of animals using an existing wildlife corridor, providing evidence for the need to maintain the land as connective habitat. Through fundraising, the organizations were able to purchase 17 acres of land in the Hollywood Hills that will be preserved for generations to come.

 

• Conservation easements. This is an agreement that restricts land from being developed. It is sometimes called a conservation covenant—and it is a binding agreement between current landowners as well as future owners of the land, to ensure the property remains undeveloped.

 

• Acting as a wildlife corridor monitor in the city of Los Angeles. Whenever there is urban planning and development, CLAW is keeping a careful watch for whether the LA Planning Department is taking into consideration wildlife habitat connectivity and any impact that development might have.

On the CLAW website you can find suggestions for how to facilitate wildlife movement on your own property. Sometimes a simple change to fencing or landscaping can improve the flow for animals that need to get to food, shelter and potential mates.
 
National Wildlife Federation also has a really cool certification program where you can have your own backyard certified as a wildlife habitat. It involves growing native plants, providing safe places to hide from predators, and using sustainable practices.
 
Like this article? Share it with your wildlife advocate friends! And let us hear your thoughts on habitat loss and fragmentation. What do you think of the kinds of solutions CLAW has already been a part of?

First of all, we highly recommend all wildlife-conscious people carry a couple of wildlife rehabilitator phone numbers in their phones at all times.  That way if you’re the person on the scene of a wildlife-vehicle collision (WVC), or you’re faced with an orphaned or injured animal in someone’s backyard, you have resources at your fingertips and you know whom to call. Here’s how to find a wildlife rehabilitator in your area.

Wildlife rehabilitators are specially trained, educated and licensed professionals working in partnership with a licensed veterinarian to care for sick, orphaned or injured animals and helping them return to their natural environment. Through wildlife rehabilitation, the animals receive appropriate nourishment for their species as well as medical care in an environment that meets certain standards. Depending on your area, a wildlife rehabilitator may only accept certain types of animals and may refer you to another organization for assistance with other species. But a wildlife rehabilitation center is a great place to start. Otherwise, it is often the state game commission or department of fisheries and wildlife that has oversight of animal removal and assistance on the roads. If you have trouble getting through to someone, anyone—People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has a number you can call and they'll support you in finding a resource: (757) 622-PETA.

Wildlife rehabilitator stabilizes an Eagle-owl 
Sarinahornay [CC BY-SA 3.0]

​Yes, absolutely! Some states even have laws about leaving the scene of a WVC (often referring to livestock, dogs and horses) so it's always good to pull over, and either back up your car to the scene of the accident, or get out of your car and approach when it appears safe—whether from vehicular traffic or from the animal's reaction. An animal in fear or distress, such as a deer, could kick you, and many small animals bite and scratch and carry rabies. 

If it is a baby animal, be extremely cautious exiting your car and approaching as its angry and protective parents are most likely near by. This is the time to call for help! 

If the animal is approachable and injured, it is fine to cover the animal with a blanket for comfort from cold and shock. You can also place something gently over the animal's head to help calm it as vision and sensory input will add to its fear and panic. Do NOT touch the animal with your bare hands. Find something (great idea to always carry a blanket or towel of some sort in your trunk) to cover it with and/or use the blanket to help move the animal off the roadway so it is not put in further danger of being hit.

After you have gotten through to a wildlife rehabilitator or the game commission for your state and region, they'll advise you further on what to do. If possible, remain with the animal, which will likely be in pain and terrified. Staying with the animal can help prevent further road traffic from hitting it and can also keep predators away.

Michelle Buntin [Public domain]

Good question. Let's say you're flying down the freeway at 70 mph and somehow a small mammal got trapped between lanes (they're less likely here, but theoretically) and you hit and definitely kill the animal. Show of hands here—with cars whizzing by and heavy traffic and perhaps your car in the middle lane, would you stop? Probably not. It just wouldn't be safe for you or other drivers. 

But let's say you're driving down a two-lane stretch at 55 mph (where most WVCs happen, by the way) and you hit a raccoon. You safely pull over and cautiously approach, only to find that the animal is clearly beyond any kind of rehabilitation. Do you leave it? We say no. Think about it. All the times you've seen a furry lump up ahead in the road and you tried to maneuver your wheels to make sure you straddled the carcass instead of hitting it again. And then of course there's the poor animal that's been run over so many times you wonder why on earth someone couldn't have given it the dignity of removal at some point. Be the ONE! 

1. Find something, like a blanket, towel, T-shirt, or piece of cardboard or plastic, to maneuver the animal onto, and move it well off the side of the road or into nearby forest or brush to let nature take its course.
2. Don't touch the animal with your bare hands.
3. Observe your surroundings, watching for traffic as well as other animals, especially if you hit a baby animal.

Once you have established that you are safe and not injured yourself, or you have called 911 for help, you can turn your attention to the animal. Calling 911 for an emergency event will often trigger a police report as well as removal of the animal from the roadway. Keep in mind that you CAN call 911 even if you, personally, haven't been injured but you've hit a large animal that's lying in the roadway, causing further danger to other vehicle traffic.

Of course you can also call the game commission for your state and in many states there are laws that allow you to collect roadkill to eat it, if that's your thing. Some state wildlife commissions also donate roadkill for scientific research.

ForestWander.com [CC BY-SA 3.0 us ]

Humane Society listing of where to find contact info for wildlife rehabilitators and commissions by state (visit the site and find the contact info for your region)
​​
​People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - help with animal injury on roads (757) 622-PETA (7382)

Have any other suggestions for when you hit an animal while driving? Feel free to comment and share below. And if you found this blog useful, pass it along!

​People are often baffled by deer behavior on the roads, sharing stories of deer not only darting out into the road but jumping right into the side of the car or stopped in the middle of the road, "caught in the headlights."

Here are some tips from Natural Forests on how to avoid hitting a deer while driving:

• Waterways are natural passages for wildlife. Keep an eye out for deer on sides of bridges.
• Ask passengers to help you keep an eye out for deer. Agree on quick way to communicate, such as "Deer, right!"
• Deer-vehicle collisions happen more often on two-lane highways where  the speed limit is 55 mph.
• Don't honk your horn. It could spook the animal and make it dart in the wrong direction. Just slow down and give it time to move. 
• Animal crossings can reduce risk of animal-vehicle collisions by 80%! ​

Are you in a deer-heavy state? Find out your odds of hitting one.

 Have any other guidance on how to avoid hitting a deer while driving? Feel free to submit your comments below! And be sure to see what other resources National Forests has put out there. The It's All Yours campaign about appreciation of our national forests and grasslands is truly inspiring.

Support the bipartisan Wildlife Corridors Conservation Act 2019
This proposal is for a massive conservation effort to preserve and restore native species that are diminishing due to loss of habitat. It's super easy to show your support thanks to Wildlands Network via this quick contact form to your local representatives. ​

Ever since I started posting and promoting on Facebook about conservation corridors (also referred to as wildlife corridors, ecocorridors, migration corridors and the like), I started getting the sarcastic commentary. “Har-har, how’s the deer gonna know where to cross, deer don’t read signs, har-har!?”
 
Then there were the ones who took it as an affront, a simple photo from Wikipedia—a brilliant illustration of what a conservation corridor could and should look like—presumably with private lands nudging up against land that is reserved as a “corridor” for animals to continue on their way without interruption and fragmentation of natural habitat. It caused quite a stir and some nasty back and forth between community members. My favorite comment by far, however, was the one about “hippie commie climate change b.s.” so I just had to run with that one.

Wildlife overpasses are used as a mitigation measure worldwide to reduce the mortality of wildlife on roads, and to a certain extent, to facilitate the genetic exchange of both flora and fauna species in forest fragments. This photo depicts a newly constructed wildlife overpass in highly urbanized Singapore, which connects two rainforest nature reserves that was separated by an eight-lane highway for close to 30 years.
Benjamin P. Y-H. Lee (University of Kent). [CC BY 4.0 ]

​So yes, there may be some leftist hippie commies in our midst, right alongside some good ol’ gun-totin, NRA members who love to hunt and have a deep and abiding appreciation for wildlife conservation, which means ensuring that animals are healthy, thriving, abundant, and free to move about, feed and reproduce in their most natural state of environment.
 
And for the record, conservation corridors have quite a few fans I would hardly consider of the leftist, hippie commie ilk. We’re talking Departments of Transportation, Departments of Natural Resources, and Game Commissions from Montana to Florida and quite a few in between—who have been studying wildlife-vehicle interaction for decades and understand the value of coming at this very costly issue from “under” and “above” rather than dead on the road.
 
That doesn’t mean we all agree on this stuff. There are challenges. But we’re highly intelligent and cooperative human beings who know how to work things out. We’re Americans, after all, so we do things democratically. Not everybody’s happy with everything all the time, but in general, things get better for the greater good of all. 

Have something to fuss about? Go ahead. Get it off your chest. But by all means, do your due diligence and keep learning about conservation corridors and the difference they can make. The difference might end up being in your own back yard.