11.02.2004

Hola!

Another great week for RMAD and the animals!

Today, the Boulder Daily Camera mentions RMAD and animal advocacy in four – count ’em! 1-2-3-4! – separate places. 1) A feature story recognizing RMAD’s 10 years of service to the animals and the public. 2) Our letter to the editor on the issue of road mortality. 3) An editorial sympathetic to the effort to reduce wildlife mortality on Colorado roads and, specifically, supportive of RMAD’s efforts on road mortality issues. And 4) An announcement of tonight’s RMAD Boulder meeting.

The road mortality issue took center stage this week with the announcement from the Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project of an education program on the issue. RMAD’s campaign to pass a law doubling fines for traffic infractions in wildlife crossing zones complements that effort. Working with Political Voice for Animals, we have twice tried to get this bill passed and have twice failed – due, primarily, to partisan politics.

Representative Mary Hodge agreed yesterday to once again sponsor our bill. We believe this time we have a very good chance for success.

I’ve appended some of the Camera pieces to this message. Couldn’t find the feature story online.

We also had a great turnout for our Fur is a Drag demonstration in Denver’s Cherry Creek. There’s a great photo of this event on the Web (rmad.org). Check it out!

RMAD’s HEALTH Project’s monthly potluck featured nutritionist Steve Billig. The advance publicity really worked. More than 40 people attended.

And last night’s town meeting in Denver was a rousing success. We had a room full of new faces and fresh energy. Our Team Leaders did a great job of inspiring attendees to join RMAD’s struggle for animal liberation. Our thanks to everyone who participated and especially to Kathleen Neubauer for arranging the wonderful meeting space.

A belated thanks to Tammie Lackey of Political Voice for Animals. It's hard to remember to give everyone the recognition they deserve. If I'd thought to do it at the time, I would have shined a spotlight on Tammie when we were all together at the Ringling demo. Tammie is one of the many who worked so, so hard on Initiative 100, and there she was in our midst. A belated thanks to you, Tammie!

Also, RMAD pro bono attorney Ty Gee asked me to tell you all about the great election night success in Louisville, CO, in which Initiative 200, calling for more accountability in the city government, won in a landslide (70% to 30%). Ty reports that the Initiative 200 team "ran a strong campaign against the entire city council, which used low-brow strategies and scare tactics to try to preserve their ways of limiting public participation in government. We stayed on the high road and rained righteousness down upon the council members." Ty extends his appreciation "to all those RMAD folks who supported us on Ballot Issue 200."

-Dave

Daily Camera Editorial
It's no joke
Many ways to reduce road mortality of animals
November 12, 2004
Do a Google search on "roadkill," and virtually all the top results are joking or cynical: roadkill "menus," a "journal" that urges all to "Confess your roadkill sins! Flame us for our insensitivity!"

Ha ha.

But given that most people do not enjoy the experience of killing another living being with their cars, all this hilarity and "hip" insensitivity may just be a misdirected emotional response to a problem that seems all but intractable. People drive, animals cross roads, and the result, inevitably, is often death.

Every day, according to various estimates, a half a million to more than a million animals are killed by vehicles on American roads. That translates to a slaughter of up to 400 million senseless (unless you happen to be a crow, magpie or other scavenger) animal deaths every year, a number that far outpaces the numbers killed by hunters.

According to a study by the Colorado Department of Transportation, between 1993 and 2002, more than 10,000 large animals (not counting birds, rodents, raccoons, skunks, rabbits, reptiles, and other animals commonly killed on roadways) were killed on state roads, including 8,400 deer, 1,612 elk, 141 bears, and 16 mountain lions.

People didn't fare so well, either: Twenty-three died in animal-vehicle collisions, and 2,266 were injured in a total of 24,700 reported incidents.
U.S. 36 between Boulder and Lyons, a migratory corridor for elk and deer, is considered one of Colorado's eight worst locations for animal-vehicle collisions (though a CDOT project to place wildlife crossing signs and reflective lights seems to have helped).

So, is there anything to do about the slaughter besides pretending it's somehow funny? As a matter of fact, there are many things we can do.

Rocky Mountain Animal Defense, supported by State Farm Insurance, last year supported a bill to double the fines for traffic violations in marked wildlife crossings. The bill died in committee because of partisan politics, but sponsor Rep. Mary Hodge of Brighton has indicated she'll bring it back for consideration by the new Democratic legislative majority next year.

"We've gotten people to stop speeding through school zones and construction zones that way," says RMAD's Dave Crawford. "Getting people to obey the law is the least we can do."

We'd also like to see more research about the dynamics of wildlife migration and roadways, which could lead to new thinking about providing under- or over-road crossings for some species. In fact, Congress last year considered but killed a proposal that would have required states to formally consider such questions when designing or renovating roads.

In addition, "deer whistles" may be an inexpensive way to warn animals away from roadways as cars approach. We'd like to see more research into this area — as would insurance companies.

On a more personal level, the first hurdle is to convince people that road mortality is not a joke. The magnitude of the slaughter is appalling, and when large animals are hit, it costs Americans millions of dollars a year, and sometimes their lives.

Drivers should be particularly aware at dusk and dawn, when many animals are on the move. When possible, they should use high beams at night to see animals at the roadside in the distance; slowing down, flashing headlights and honking often can get animals like deer and elk to move out of a roadway. Driving slowly and carefully though known wildlife areas reduces risks, and if you see one animal by the roadside, assume there are more, and slow down.

With millions of cars and animals on American roads daily, road mortality will always be a problem. But surely our irreplaceable wildlife deserves our best effort to minimize the slaughter.

Letter to Editor
WILDLIFE
Your haste is killing animals [Dave's note: I don't really like the "blame" this title implies; At the least, I'd have used "Our"]

It's good to see the Camera covering the important issue of wildlife mortality on our roads (News, Nov. 10). Like Interstate 80, which biologists call a "Berlin Wall" for wildlife, Highway 36 is yet another Colorado road-bisecting habitat with no safe way for deer, coyotes, raccoons, prairie dogs and cottontail rabbits to cross.

Estimates put the annual number of wildlife mortality on U.S. roads in the hundreds of millions.

Boulder's own Rocky Mountain Animal Defense has an eight-year history with this issue. We have worked twice with state legislators to create a law that doubles fines for traffic infractions in wildlife-crossing zones, similar to school-crossing and construction zones. And twice the bill was killed in committee at the hands of partisan politicians, despite expert testimony from safety and insurance officials.

The bill was not killed because of any financial burden. Indeed, the state would incur virtually no cost. The "fines doubled" signs would be used in new areas designated as wildlife crossing zones, and they would replace existing signs only when those signs needed replacement.

No, the reasons given were of the ilk: We don't need signs to tell us to slow down; a dead elk beside the road reminds us of that!

This year we'll try again. And we are hopeful for a better result.
To get involved with this and other initiatives, please join Rocky Mountain Animal Defense at our 2004 Boulder Town Meeting at the Humane Society of Boulder Valley, at 6:30 tonight.

DAVID CRAWFORD
Rocky Mountain Animal Defense
Boulder