Frightened deer jumping off Highway 21 bridge to their deaths
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BOISE, Idaho (KBOI) - Frightened deer are jumping to their deaths off a 100-plus foot bridge in southwestern Idaho.
Wildlife officials say the deer are jumping to their deaths off the High Bridge - formally known as Mores Creek Bridge on Highway 21 east of Boise.
"I've seen it myself and some of our staff have seen it too," said Evin Oneale, big game manager for the Idaho Fish and Game Department.
Wildlife experts say it happens at the High Bridge over Lucky Peak Reservoir on Highway 21 when roaming deer crossing the bridge are panicked by oncoming automobiles.
"The first thing a deer is going to do is try and get away," Oneale said. "They jump over what they think is just into the barrow pit, but it's a 120-foot fall to the river below."
Highway 21 cuts through a mule deer winter range area. From the beginning, its co-existence with wildlife has been a tricky relationship as dangerous collisions between vehicles and deer are frequent.
In January 2004, more than 100 elk died when they fell through the ice and drowned trying to find a way around the man-made obstacle.
iN 2010, Fish and Game and the Idaho Department of Transportation built an underpass for animals that leads them under Highway 21.
Fish and Game says the underpass is successfully funneling animals to a safe crossing but as colder weather brings more deer to lower elevations, motorists are urged to slow down crossing this bridge where a deer's instinctive leap could lead to its death.
put a fence up on the bridge... high enough for them to unable to jump over.
perhaps if they would build extra wide jump proof cattle guards on both ends of the bridge the deer and elk would not be able to get on the bridges in the first place.. and also build cross tunnels under the roads at both ends of the bridge so the animals can cross UNDER the road. They have several of those underpass animal paths on Wyoming roads and they do work.. not only saving the animals but the drivers too.
Or, the poor deer are running in fear of their lives from serial killers, aka as hunters. Also, deer-vehicle-accidents are caused by hunters. The deer are running blindly in a panic, away from these death deviants. I think the hunters should be accountable for every dva or better yet the DNR's who propagate deer for the gun. They need a large new crop of live targets every year to keep on selling their hunting licenses. Ask them about food plots and how they exploit the compensatory rebound effect to "grow" more deer.
@Evolved If all hunting by humans stopped animals would still die due to collisions with autos, trucks, and trains.
@Evolved Several times more animals are killed by collisions with vehicles than by hunters.
 @Evolved since you're evolved you know everything is ALIVE; rock, dirt, plant, animal, air... all is alive as a being, as we are alive. So if you consume anything you are eating an alive being; water is alive too. Is one life more valuable than another?... A bug is less important than a person or sea slug or a deer? Â
If you eat meat, or anything with any amount of animal by product you are eating what has been harvested from an animal. Are you evolved enough to understand the ramifications of that?
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Let's take a moment to ponder a question: Were the actions of native hunters OK, but modern hunters not?
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   I write this simply b/c I too was against ALL hunting, until I moved to a cabin and found the joy of harvesting my own quality food (I no longer buy any meat at the grocery store): elk, deer, turkey, rabbit, fish. Something I learned along the way was this: the intention of the act and reverence for the life you take in order to harvest their body's meat honors the being. My body too will be food someday, for some lucky being(s).Â
   I used to also "throw out the baby with the bath water" when it came to hunters, but now have found I feel differently - I do not enjoy "the kill" - and most educated hunters would agree. I enjoy the stalking/tracking, time outdoors, the challenge, the exercise of miles of hiking, the hours it takes to dress a large elk, the pack out, the weekends w/ my wife processing on our own: making yummy sausage, burger, steaks - then sharing this with people.
And yes, not all hunters are respectful, most yes, but all? no. Just as not all evolved beings have learned and experienced everything they exist to experience... it's a never ending process I believe - to experience. A book that helped me understand is Dolores Cannon's "Three Waves..." . Hope that I have inspired a new experience for you. Cheers.
 @Evolved You are clueless. Deer are not humans and Bambi is not real. There are more deer in North America now than there were in 1492. Shooting deer is legal.
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@Evolved Are you stupid or something? Motorists are not hunters, they are drivers. You need to evolve.