Bid to cut roadkill toll

ROADKILL littering Tasmania’s roads is damaging the state’s “clean green” image and horrifying tourists, say wildlife advocates.

Drivers have been urged to slow down and take personal responsibility for the carnage on Tasmania’s roads in a new campaign aimed at addressing the state’s title as world roadkill hotspot.

The state’s leading motorist group has teamed up with conservationists and a wildlife sanctuary to raise public awareness about the 500,000 native animals hit by motor vehicles each year.

The first collaboration between Bonorong, the RACT, Tasmanian Wilderness Society and the Tasmanian Conservation Trust will see five cartoon wildlife characters call on road users to take action to reduce roadkill. The characters, some bandaged and sporting injuries, will start to appear on social media and will be depicted on leaflets distributed through hire car companies.

Bonorong director Greg Irons said about 20 per cent of the tourists who visited the wildlife sanctuary were moved to talk about the horror they saw as they drive around the state.

“It’s a genuine shock for people to suddenly jump off the Spirit of Tasmania or a plane and see the roads literally littered with roadkill — it’s very confronting,” he said.

Mr Irons said locals may have become desensitised to the ongoing issue, but tourists were “outpouring their emotions” when they visited the wildlife sanctuary.

Bonorong received a record 7426 calls for wildlife rescue assistance last year. Road trauma is the leading cause of all wildlife injuries, at 30 per cent.

RACT chief executive Harvey Lennon said slowing down to avoid wildlife would make roads safer generally, as research showed more than 5 per cent of all serious road casualties were caused by either direct impact with an animal or swerving to avoid an animal.

He said slowing down was better than swerving.