Animal Carnage Is Road Kill Significantly Affecting Our Wildlife

Animal Carnage – Is road kill significantly affecting our wildlife?

1. The article claims that 294,000 animals are killed per year. How many animals are killed per hour?

Number of hours in a year = 24 x 365 = 8,760

Animals killed per hour = 294,000/8,760 = 0.32 animals killed per hour

2. Collate the data from the article in the following table. Check out www.roadkilltas.com for more information.

Animal % of total road kill Total number killed Number killed per per year per year day Unidentified 38% 111,720 306 mammals Possums 27% 27/100 x 294,00 79,380/365 = 79,380 = 217 Pademelons 7% 20,580 56

Wallabies 7% 20,580 56

Rabbits 6% 17,640 48

Gulls 2.5% 7,350 20

Devils 1.5% 4,410 12

Cats 1.5% 4,410 12

3. Draw a graph showing the number of the different animals killed each day through road kill and write a statement to go along with the graph. 4. From the information in the article work out mathematically the actual population of Tasmanian Devils in Tasmania. Is the number of Devils killed per year significant? Why do you say that?

If 4,000 devils is 5% of the population then:

4,000 = 5/100 x Total population

Total population = 4,000 x 100 / 5 = 80,000 devils.

5% is significant – 1/20 devils being killed on the road. You could consider how many births there are each year to replenish lost population. What are viable species numbers?

5. The study covered 15,000 km of road finding 5,691 animals killed. What is the average number killed per kilometre? Is this a useful number? Why do you say that?

5,691 animals killed/15,000 km is 0.38 animals killed/km. Or 1 animal killed for every 2.6 km. This number doesn’t take into account that some areas are blackspots – more animals whereas others in more urban areas are unaffected by roadkill.

6. The authors of the survey extrapolated from their study of 5,691 animals killed that 294,000 animals are killed per year in Tasmania. How might they do this and what issues would they need to consider? Do you think this is a reasonable estimate?

Check out www.roadkilltas.com

7. What are some other ways we could reduce road kill besides the ones mentioned in the article?