Website Aims to Reduce Wildlife Accidents DENVER, CO (KUNC) - Vehicle collisions with animals along Interstate 70 through the Colorado mountains have risen by eighteen percent in the past five years, and a group of conservationists and state wildlife officials are hoping a new website launched Monday will help mitigate the rising problem.

The migration periods of November and December are the worst for vehicle-animal collisions. So it's no coincidence that a coalition of wildlife interests launched I-70-Wildlife-Watch-DOT-ORG when they did.

"This is great that people are getting together and minimizing the impacts, not only on the wildlife resource, but also to the potential for injuries," said
Colorado Division of Wildlife spokesman Tyler Baskefield, who was among the speakers at an unveiling of the site at the agency's Denver headquarters.

The D-O-W along with the state highway department and conservation groups are asking the public to report animal sightings along I-70 by going to the website and pinpointing them on detailed Google maps. The idea is to collect more data about where most animals cross and when, so that planners can build better fencing and possibly even vegetated wildlife crossings.

The goal is also financially motivated, according to Carol Walker; executive director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association.

"These animal vehicle collisions do raise our insurance rates, we all pay for it and foot the bill through what we pay for auto insurance, and we're seeing those numbers rise," Walker said.

Like on the scale of 20 percent over the past five years. Today the average claim for a car accident involving wildlife in Colorado is $2,800.
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