How Many Animals Killed On UK Roads Each Year -it should keep you awake at night

 

National Road Death Survey The Mammal Society 2001

There have been warnings that common mammal species such as hedgehogs, badgers and hares might be declining and face local extinction in certain parts of Europe primarily due to road casualties. In Britain annual road casualties are estimated to account for 100,000 foxes, 100,000 hedgehogs, 50,000 badgers and 30,000-50,000 deer. There is also concern regarding particular bird of prey species such as the barn owl, which is dramatically over-represented in the total number of wildlife road casualties compared with other bird of prey species. For these reasons, The Mammal Society, in collaboration with the Hawk and Owl Trust, undertook a nationwide survey to identify trends in road and habitat characteristics associated with mammal and bird of prey wildlife road casualties.

For one year, in 2000/2001, 281 volunteers from across Britain recorded wild mammal and bird of prey casualties on all road categories except designated trunk roads and motorways, which were excluded on the grounds of safety. A number of habitat and road characteristic variables were recorded at each casualty location including the speed limit, proximity to a bend, presence or absence of a connecting wildlife corridor (e.g. a stream, railway line or hedgerow), and the adjacent land use, verge habitats and highway boundary features Regional differences in casualty rates were also investigated. Volunteers were also requested to record road and habitat data at non- casualty locations along their route so that characteristics occurring disproportionately more frequently at casualty locations than at non-casualty locations could be identified.

Volunteers recorded 5675 mammal casualties and 142 bird of prey casualties. Figures 1 and 2 show the principal mammal and bird of prey road casualty species as proportions of the total number of casualties. The hedgehog was the most numerous mammal casualty recorded (29% of mammal casualties), followed by badger (25%) and fox (19%). The most numerous bird of prey road casualty recorded was the tawny owl (25% of casualties), followed by kestrel (19%) and then barn owl (16%). Casualties as a proportion of British pre-breeding population size were highest for the badger, fox and barn owl.

Habitat and road features influencing the presence/absence of wildlife road casualties are shown in Table 1. The casualty locations of a number of mammal species, including fox, badger and muntjac, and also the barn owl and kestrel were associated with adjacent linear habitat features that connect with road verges and thus funnel wildlife toward traffic. High traffic speed increased the likelihood of many mammal species, including fox, badger and roe deer, and also the tawny owl, falling victim to vehicles as it reduces the time available for drivers and animals to react to danger. Adjacent land use and region were important factors influencing wildlife road casualty locations and appeared to reflect foraging activity and population density. For example, roe deer and tawny owl road casualties were associated with adjacent woodland habitat and badger casualties were disproportionately high in the south-west of England.

Due to the impact of road casualties it has been suggested that barn owls are unable to sustain viable breeding populations in close proximity to trunk roads and motorways and that road casualties may even be responsible for suppressing the populations of some of our common mammal species on a local scale. There are also a significant number of human fatalities and a considerable economic cost associated with collisions between vehicles and wildlife. There is therefore, a conservation and economic argument for substantial investment in wildlife accident prevention. This study has highlighted typical casualty hotspot locations where such mitigation measures should be implemented.

We are extremely grateful for the tremendous effort of all the volunteers who participated in the survey, all of whom will be sent a summary report in the near future.

By Lincoln Garland

Figure 1. Mammal road casualty proportions

 

 

 

 

Figure 2. Bird of prey road casualty proportions

 

 

 

 The 4% between unknown and little owl pertains to sparrowhawks

Table 1. Habitat and road features influencing the presence/absence of wildlife road casualties

 

	Adjacent verge habitat	Adjacent land use	Adjacent highway boundary	Connecting Wildlife corridor	Road speed limit	Proximity to a road bend	Region
Mammals	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns
Hedgehog	ns	√ (urban)	√ (ditch)	ns	ns	ns	ns
Hare	ns	√ (arable)	√ (ditch)	ns	ns	√ (no bend)	√ (north England)
Grey squirrel	√ (wooded)	√ (urban and woodland)	ns	ns	ns	ns	√ (south-east)
Rat	ns	√ (urban)	ns	ns	ns	√ (on bend)	ns
Fox	ns	ns	ns	√	√	ns	ns
Stoat	ns	ns	√ (ditch)	√	√	ns	ns
Weasel	ns	ns	ns	√	ns	ns	ns
Polecat/ferret	ns	√ (pasture)	ns	√	ns	ns	ns
Mink	ns	ns	ns	√	ns	ns	ns
Badger	ns	√ (pasture)	√ (ditch & hedge)	√	√	ns	√ (south-west)
Roe deer	ns	√ (woodland)	√ (ditch)	ns	√	ns	ns
Muntjac	√ (wooded)	ns	√ (ditch and treeline)	√	√	ns	ns
Birds of prey	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns
Kestrel	ns	√ (arable)	ns	√	ns	ns	ns
Barn owl	ns	√ (arable)	√ (no hedge)	√	ns	ns	ns
Tawny owl	ns	√ (woodland)	ns	ns	√	ns	ns

ns – non-significant

√ - significant

Here we have to remember that these are just reports gathered through volunteers and so fox 19% and badger 25% seems to be a little off when the Society states that an estimated 100,000 foxes and 50,000badgers are killed each year on UK roads. In fact, animals killed on roads or being hit by cars are rarely reported as the attitude exists that "animals should not be on the road" and "what's the point of reporting a dead animal?" -something I hear all too often. 

For a country calling itself a "nation of animal lovers" this is literally widespread slaughter on an industrial scale when put alongside hundreds of mammals (and birds) killed each week for shooters 'sport' and the 'legal; killing of 250,000 badgers to stop supposed bovine TB spread. 

With road casualties we know that otters, foxes, badgers and deer are killed daily and in many cases along certain and very specific stretches of road. Yet, there is, unlike most wildlife conscious countries, no use or building of wildlife over or underpasses to stop the casualties. Why not? It might cause a few delays in journeys during building? That is far more preferable than having to record more and more wildlife deaths especially of protected species such as otters and badgers.

Just from the 2023 Bristol Fox and Badger Death Registers we can highlight the areas/roads where most deaths occur and when it comes to otters we know the main road where deaths happen. The UKs local and national 'policies' on environment and conservation are a joke at best and a smoke screen/lie at worse.

Firstly, it might be worth the Home Office examining the widespread use of firearms for 'sport' because on most of the shooters' online pages they brag about the wildlife (and other animals) they have killed and post photographs of themselves with their 'trophies' and yet, the law states (in the case of foxes for instance) that they may be "controlled" if a threat top livestock. So the killing of "hundreds" according to 'sportsmen' of foxes every month is illegal -what livestock are foxes able to take down (and ignore the false lamb claim) especially on the outskirts of towns and cities where foxes mainly feed on rodents and wild rabbits?

Why are fox numbers tumbling i9n the UK? Well, traffic for one and the other is the killing of breeding pairs of foxes as well as cubs.  The number of vixens we record being killed by cars alone shows that there are simply not enough to continue breeding a strong and healthy population and so many are suffering from illnesses and not recovering -the 100,000 per year is looking a tad slim compared to the probable actual number of fox deaths each year in total.

And, yes, I am aware that some shooters include off duty police officers so perhaps the blind eye of the law is blind for a reason?

We need to tackle decline in wildlife while we still can and when you also consider that Mammal Society report was from 2001 and that traffic has increased greatly since then it becomes something that should keep people concerned with wildlife and conservation up at night. It does me.

We need to construct wildlife underpasses and regulate shooting for 'sport'.  We also need to legally come down hard on estates and those who allow the killing of protected and reintroduced birds of prey etc. That or just watch as wildlife disappear.

Bristol Fox and Badger Deaths Registers 2023 Summary

 

The total reported number of dead foxes in the City of Bristol for 2023 stands at 257

I should point out that the total number of fox deaths listed herein are not all that died in 2023. There are numerous reports of “a dead fox in Bedminster not sure what road” as well as “I was driving into Bristol and saw a dead fox -not sure of the location” and when attempting to narrow locations down the usual response is silence or “I have no idea but I’ve reported it”.

The other problem are the “I’ve a dead fox in my garden and the council can’t collect it until after the weekend. It needs moving” and there is no location given once I make it clear that we record dead foxes and only certain fox deaths are of interest to the ongoing study and even all of this is politely explained I usually get the “waste of time. Thought you were interested in dead foxes” which is where things end. People have this idea that if they have to wait overnight or until after the weekend for the council street team to to collect a dead fox then we sort it out for them. We are not a waste disposal service. Now I ask what the address is and then explain the situation and even then asking for a photograph of the said dead fox (a lot can be told by these) will be met with silence.

A problem faced is that Bristol City Council refuses flatly to offer any cooperation on dead foxes and even ones that their waste management stored for us to collect on the day ‘vanished’ with the excuse “Well, anyone can turn up and remove bags” -including, it seems , bags with tags marked “Do Not Remove -Possible Evidence”. Annoyingly more than once I have read on small Bristol groups post stating: “Report it to the Council for removal. They are fast” and these are groups where I have posted regularly on both the Fox Deaths Project and the Fox and Badger Death Registers. When I read “We’ve had three die in our street this month -council came out to collect” then those are three foxes we might have been able to say “RTA” (hit by car) or something we need to look into. Lost for good.

Another problem is people who will offer up the same excuses of “I was driving my children to school” or “I was walking the dog” when it comes to checking whether what they have seen is a dead fox or badger. Three times I have seen a “dead dog” reported only to later have someone later confirm that the dead animal was a fox.

What has been another major problem is the fact that very few of the local wildlife groups cooperate. There are one or two individuals who will let me know if they have seen a post about a dead fox but the main cooperation (reporting of dead foxes) comes from lost and found pet groups. Despite five years of constantly updating Bristol wildlife groups the situation has not improved.

Looking at the death list it is clear that certain areas are hot spots for fox (and badger) deaths and the same applies to otters. Kingswood and Downend are so regular when it comes to fox and badger deaths that I often wonder how there are any left in the area. The same applies to otters in one area. Speed bumps the council object to putting in place as they get “moaned at by motorists” and the idea of installing a wildlife underpass is also unthinkable because of “the money involved in this and traffic problems caused”. So protected species such as badgers and otters will continue to die. Foxes that are declining in numbers are also going to continue dying.

If one or two or even three foxes die on a specific road over a period of 2-3 weeks then there are the claims that “someone is poisoning the foxes”. One reason the Fox Deaths Project was set up in Bristol was to see whether poisoning was a cause of fox death. We have found one -and that was secondary poisoning from eating a poisoned rat which is a far more common way for carnivores and birds of prey (and pets) to die than most realise. Loss of dead foxes due to them not being reported to us denies evidence of causality of death but so far “The Bristol fox poisoner(s)” has proven a myth.

I do not include any dead animal reported unless I have a location - even just a street name – because “Bedminster” or just “Bishopston” does not tell us much; was it near a road, what was its physical condition looking like before death? And “can you confirm it was a fox? Often resulted in no responses or “I have no idea. I assumed it was a fox at the side of the road” (no one as far as I know keeps tabs on the number of RTA pet cats in the City). It is why I always ask if a photo can be taken of the animal reported in situ -again, a photograph can tell us a lot about how a fox died or whether someone moved it out of the road. A photograph also ensures that no hoaxes get listed and it is sad to state that we do get those but after decades I usually detect hoaxes quickly. The fact that the hoax reports can only come via local wildlife groups is disturbing since the general public in Bristol is probably unaware of our work.

All of the possible but unconfirmed fox death reports added to the confirmed ones would push the number up past 300. Reporting is better now and whereas for 2022 only 50 fox deaths were recorded we have improved things though to a depressing level.

Fox deaths will continue to be recorded in 2024 and I am sure that some 2023 ones will be added lately -Christmas and New Year are points where no one really cares about reporting fox, badger or otter deaths as there are far more ‘important’ things to get on with.

The sad thing about recording badger deaths in 2023 is that we recorded 16 for 2022 and 53 for this year shows that reporting has improved. However, as with foxes there are posts from people on Bristol wildlife groups, where I post often about the Badger and Fox death registers. That “I see dead badgers regularly along that road” or “It’s quite common to see dead badgers on that point in the road”. These people can rarely recall dates or where exactly these regular deaths are seen and for that reason the ‘reports’ cannot be included but if they were then we would be looking at 70+ badger deaths for 2023.

At least two ‘badger deaths’ turned out to be (1) a muntjac deer and (2) a fox -confirmed by people who checked later. Another problem is that very often people will post that “I had no idea anyone was interested in dead foxes and badgers -I see them all the time while driving from one end of Bristol to the other” or even “Why bother reporting them when they are dead? It’s so common to see them on the roadside”.

Losses due to people reporting dead badgers to the council street clean team is a problem. The Health and Safety Executive will not allow post mortems on dead badgers over “concerns regarding bovine TB” therefore it is possible that deaths due to disease/illness or illegal killing are going unrecorded. If it were possible to launch a project on dead badgers as we have for foxes then we might learn a lot -0even if only about the overall health of the species locally.

At the moment any badger death is assigned a tag of “RTA” (meaning it was struck by a car) although we do know that in one case a badger fell from a cliff top in bad weather. All we are able

to do so far is simply list deaths and locations and here we do see the same roads accounting for fox and badger deaths -Downend and Kingswood being the two most prominent.

As a “protected” species little is done in the way of death prevention. Wildlife underpasses would certainly cut back on deaths but authorities are not willing to even contemplate such a measure. That so many die at a time when the national population is under threat is both angering and sad.

Terry Hooper-Scharf

1^st January 2024

Canid Study (f 1976)

Bristol Badger Group (f 1995)

A Pdf for each Register is available to those involved in research.