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IMPACTS ON WILDLIFE
Figure: An example of a WVC.
WVCs are a serious safety risk for animals. In most cases, when a vehicle hits an animal the animal dies immediately or shortly afterwards. Clearly, these deaths affect the immediate survival of many individual animals; however, they also represent a serious conservation issue.
For some species, WVCs threaten the long-term survival of a local or regional population, especially in combination with other factors, such as habitat alteration.
This study identified 21 federally listed threatened or endangered animal species in the United States for which road mortality is one of the major threats to the survival of the species.
Wildlife Vehicle Collision
