Blizzards Take Wildlife Toll, Too

By Richard Martin, 1-18-07

	Caption: Once it gets to our chests, we're outta here

On Christmas Day, after opening presents, we walked outside to find the snow piled high and still coming down. Lying in front of our garage, in the snow-free space where one of our cars had been parked, was a buck with about 10 points. He looked up at us as if to say, "You got a problem?"

He's not the only animal seeking shelter from the deep snow and frigid temperatures that have beset the state over the last few weeks, particularly in the blizzard-ravaged southeast. The Colorado Division of Wildlife said today that 41 elk have been hit by trains between Trinidad and Aguilar during a four-day period in early January.

“When the snow gets that high animals look for anyplace they can stand where it’s blown clear and they aren’t buried up to their chest,” said Travis Black, a wildlife manager from Lamar, in a statement. Once on a road or a railway, the animals often have trouble escaping oncoming vehicles because of the steep snowbanks on either side.

Pronghorn antelope are vulnerable as well. The Division says "some indications" say that up to 200 pronghorn have been hit by cars or trains since the two major New Year's blizzards hit.

Along the Trinidad-Aguilar railway, wildlife managers have cleared "safe havens" and set out food to lure the elk away from the tracks, and Burlington-Northern engineers have been slowing down and blowing their whistles when traveling that section. No elk have been hit in the last couple of weeks, according to the Wildlife Division.
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