Grey nomads, like all motorists, cannot help but notice the vast amount of roadkill which lies scattered alongside our highways and byways … but it seems even the most high-tech efforts to reduce it are being thwarted.
Concern over the high number of threatened Tasmanian devils and other wildlife being killed on the Apple Isle’s rural roads saw the introduction of expensive roadside virtual fence technology at high-risk areas. The devices emit a high-pitched noise and flash of light when activated by headlights, scaring off potential roadkill. However, it seems the bright idea has run into a problem … vandals!
The company behind the concept, Wildlife Safety Solutions, says vandalism is a ‘massive problem’ with 15 or more devices stolen or vandalised on the Murchison Highway alone.
“People drive past and break them off and smash them,” director, Jack Swanepoel, told the Mercury newspaper. “This site is definitely a big problem.”
Virtual fencing costs about $7000 a kilometre to install, with the devices placed at 25-metre-plus intervals along the road, forming a virtual ‘devil-proof’’ fence.
Recent roadkill feedback has confirmed that roadkill numbers spiked in areas where the devices had been vandalised or stolen. The Mercury reports that the council-supported devices have been credited with reducing overall roadkill by 82% during trials.
Damage has also been done to virtual fences at Arthur River, in the far north-west. A trial of virtual fencing is also underway in the state’s South, near Eaglehawk Neck, on the Tasman Peninsula.
According to the Mercury, Wildlife Safety Solutions is in discussions with the Department of State Growth about rolling out more virtual fencing to save wildlife and also benefit the tourism sector, with roadkill being one of the main gripes among visitors to Tasmania. It would cost about $20 million to cover most of Tasmania’s main road network with virtual fencing.
Traffic is the second biggest threat to the endangered devil population after the devil facial tumour disease.
FNQld… highway near Mt Isa…. I could not look out the window… la4ge mobs of kangaroos lying on the side of the road ranging from baby joeys to adults ! Not witnessed actual hits but it appears as if trucks just drive through the whole mob!!! And even veer towards them on edge /side of road !!! How can this be stopped? Animal cruelty !! Left there to suffer and possibly die slowly !!!
Not animal cruelty at all.
First lesson when confronted by an animal on the road at night is not to swerve to miss it.
Better a roo than one of your loved ones.
Yes it is animal cruelty if (as the lady wrote) drivers are mowing through mobs of kangaroos and deliberately targetting animals on the side of the road. If there are no other vehicles on the road and it’s safe to swerve, then of course you should swerve. First lesson of driving is to keep your eyes open and your brain switched on. Shouldn’t be too difficult for a human to manage.
I suggest the virtual fencing posts are made bigger, stronger and of concrete to cause enough car damage when targeted for vehicles to be pulled up by police at the next town, questioned and charged!