So can you imagine what would happen if Mother Nature threw a few hundred salt-licking big horn sheep into the mix of winter-driving obstacles?
That's what drivers in Western Montana on the stretch of Highway 200 between Plains and Thompson Falls deal with this time of year. The animals congregate on the roadways, attracted by the water and slush created when the Montana Department of Transportation puts salt-based de-icer and sand on the road during winter driving conditions. As reported in The Missoulian, it can be difficult to persuade them to move:About 50 of them were clogging the highway one morning earlier this week, and once they get to licking up the salt their bodies need, they aren't inclined to move for anyone or anything. A large freight truck had crept up on some of the sheep, horn blaring, and still the bighorns wouldn't budge. The driver of the truck finally stopped about a foot from a couple of lambs and, as traffic lined up behind him, sat there helpless. In the westbound lane, a car gently nudged a ram in the butt, and once he jumped out of the way, enough of the others reacted to his movement and meandered to the side to create a narrow lane for the car to pass through.
Unfortunately, not all drivers have been so patient:
It was between 9:30 and 10 on the morning of Nov. 10. The driver of a trailerless semi from Butte bore down on a herd of bighorn sheep on the highway. The semi had just passed one of the towable readerboards that warn drivers the sheep congregate on this section of the road. But the driver of the semi didn't appear to slow down one iota. Witnesses told Bruce Sterling, a wildlife biologist with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, that the semi's brake lights never came on. In the space of all of two seconds, this year's bighorn sheep death count on this small stretch of highway leapt from 18 to 25. Blood, guts, hair and horns sprayed through the air; several of the sheep were literally cut in half.
"I didn't get an opportunity to talk to him about why he did it," Sterling says. "Either he was not paying attention, or he didn't care."
The driver stopped at a hunter checkpoint farther down the road where Sterling was working.
"He didn't seem too upset about the sheep, but he was upset about the damage done to his vehicle. It seemed to be a total lack of regard for Montana wildlife."
There is no law against running over wildlife with your vehicle, any more than there's a statute that bans you from driving your car head-on into a concrete wall. You wouldn't think you'd need one.
"There is no law against striking wildlife," Sterling says, "mostly because no one would want to because of the damage it can cause. An adult ram can weigh 225 pounds and would do major damage to a vehicle."
But this was a semi. Sterling says it sustained some damage to its bumper, right light and right fender.
Although the number of sheep killed since 1985 tops 350, there have been no reported human fatalities from auto-sheep collisions. Despite efforts to lure or scare the herds away from the highway, they keep coming back. Still, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is considering more options:
One is to capture some of the sheep and put radio collars on them that would transmit a signal to warning lights flashing along the highway any time the sheep are on, or in the vicinity of, the road. Putting radio collars on sheep and transmitting signals to flashing signs is in use in a spot in Arizona that has similar problems with desert bighorns, Sterling says. But he adds that maintaining such a program would be very expensive. He's also investigating whether non-salt-based liquid de-icers might work.
"I don't know if they are effective in this climate," he says.
With a herd numbering as high as 250 congregating near that seven mile stretch of highway, something's got to give. So far it's been the sheep.
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