Sometimes, the simplest things can help wildlife
Sad to say, but that wide-open home on the range that Bing Crosby sings about in Brewster Higley’s “Home on the Range” has been steadily diminishing with every passing decade as the Western landscape has been sliced and diced by roads and barbed-wire fences.
Today, only an extremely savvy deer or antelope (or elk, moose or bighorn sheep) can move freely across private and public lands. Wild ungulates may have co-evolved nicely with carnivores on the top of the food chain, but they are overwhelmed by the “metallic carnivores” that roam highways. They also have little defense against the snagging attacks of barbs on fences.
What to we do about it? As with every bit of technology we invent, humans can learn to adapt to their downsides. There are ways to make things safer for wildlife.
