Winter Brings Animals Onto Roadways

An unusually early start to winter all across Idaho has already brought big game animals down to low elevations where they can cause problems for motorists. Drivers are urged to use caution, slow down in areas where animals might be expected on the roadway and observe signs and lights marking areas of traditional game crossing activity. Collisions with big game animals are expensive for vehicle owners, often cause human injury or deaths and almost always are fatal to the animals. When snow is deep, as it has been recently even in Idaho's lowest elevations, animals have nowhere else to go as natural forage is covered in the hills. Game animals such as elk and deer are often attracted to salt available to them after it is spread on roads to melt ice.