Cygnet Primary School’s created a banner
“Watch out for wildlife – it could save your life!” is the message for Tasmanian drivers this Threatened Species Day.
Roadkilltas.com, the website that provides tools to help drivers in Tasmania make their journeys wildlife friendly, in conjunction with the Tasmanian Conservation Trust, is launching a bus-back campaign to get the message to Hobart’s drivers.
“Every year, motorists are killed and injured in collisions with wildlife, which also cause over $5 million damage to vehicles,” said Chloe Lucas from roadkilltas.com.
“The road toll for wildlife is also huge – almost 300,000 animals killed on the roads every year, including up to 3000 endangered Tasmanian Devils”, she said.
CSIRO scientist Dr Alistair Hobday has been researching safe stopping distances for Tasmanian native animals.
“When you are driving on country roads at night, keeping your speed to 60 km/hr when your headlights are on low-beam, and 80 km/hr with your headlights on high beam gives you the best chance of avoiding wildlife on the road,” Dr Hobday said.
Visit Roadkilltas.com online or on facebook for more tools to help drivers avoid wildlife collisions, including roadkill black spots to download to your SatNav.
The bus-back education campaign is supported by the RACT Community Fund.
“RACT are very happy to support this project as part of our ongoing commitment to reducing roadkill in Tasmania,” said RACT General Manager Roadside and Technical Services, Darren Moody.
National Threatened Species Day was first held in 1996 to commemorate the death of the last Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacine) in captivity at Hobart Zoo on the night of 7 September, 1936.
“More than 600 species of plants and animals are threatened in Tasmania. Species become threatened due to human interference such as land clearing and forestry practices, loss of habitat, pollution and predation, to name just a few”, said Jennifer Rowallan, Biodiversity Campaigner for the Tasmanian Conservation Trust.
