''But this is a better ratio than we had going into the experiment.'' ''Some people, no matter what you do, are just never going to pay attention,'' Mr. Only a single animal has been killed since the herd was equipped with radio collars. ''There are a lot of people in the Sequim area who like having the elk around, and this gives them and us hope that they can live with each other.'' ''I'm very encouraged,'' said Jack Smith, the state wildlife supervisor for the Olympic Peninsula. Nearly half a year into the experiment in elk traffic engineering, the verdict is positive - for man and beast. The idea is that motorists will slow down once the lights flash, sparing fender and fur.Ĭollisions of thousand-pound elk and 4,000-pound sport utility vehicles have favored the S.U.V.'s, but Sequim police have long expressed concern that some person might get seriously injured in one of the smashups. This signal sets off flashing warning lights on roadside signs with pictures of elk and the words: ELK X-ING. The difference with this collar is that it emits a signal when the elk come within about a quarter mile of the new section of U. Elk-chasing was deemed inhumane.įinally, a biologist for the State of Washington, Shelly Ament, came up with an idea to wire the elk with radio transmitting collars and create what is believed to be the world's first interactive elk crossing.Ībout one in 10 elk, leaders of the herd or those most likely to be involved in mating, were equipped with radio collars, which have a three-year battery life and are used to keep track of all sorts of wild creatures, from wolves to grizzly bears. Another suggestion was to scare the herd away from the lowlands where the road was built, using dogs or people riding loud all-terrain vehicles. One idea was to construct a fence along the four-mile length of the new road - but the cost was deemed prohibitive.
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