Montana’s Wildlife Need Safer Crossings
If you’re ever driving along U.S. Highway 93 in Montana, be ready for the chance you’ll encounter a deer in your car’s headlights. Montana currently ranks second in the nation for the risk of wildlife–vehicle collisions, according to State Farm Insurance.
And that’s a big danger to animals and drivers alike. More than a million large animals are hit and killed every year by motorists in the United States, according to the Center for Large Landscape Conservation (CLLC), a Bozeman, Montana–based conservation group. The results are not tragic just for wildlife: 200 people also die in these collisions, and 29,000 people are injured annually. What’s more, each incident can cause anywhere from $6,000 to $30,000 in damage, depending on the size of the animal hit.
