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Researchers counting roadkill on Korea's highways were recently surprised to learn how frequently animals are killed by cars and trucks. A two-and-a-half-year study into the effects of automobile traffic on wildlife found that many times the number of animals are dying than previously believed.
Professor Park Jong-hwa from the Graduate School of Environmental Studies of Seoul National University announced Sunday that 5,769 wild animals, including 311 protected animals, were killed on just four roads in the Jiri Mountain area from July 2004 to Dec. 2006.
Professor Park is studying the impact of roadkill and the human environment on the natural ecosystem. Understanding roadkill is also important to improving road safety as large animals such as deer and wild pigs can cause serious accidents.
At the request of the Ministry of Environment, Park's team counted the number of animals found killed on a total of 119km of roadway around Jiri Mountain, including stretches of Highway 88, National Road #19 (both industrial and riverside roads) and Local Road #861. Full details of the study will be presented at SNU on Jan. 31.
According to the study, an average of 2,308 animals were killed every year on those 119km of road, which is less than half of the 320km of roadway in the Jiri Mountain area.
"It was shocking to see so many wild animals were killed, including a number of protected species," Park said. His study found that 311, or about 5.4 percent, of the dead animals came from 16 species listed as either endangered or protected national treasures.
Among those, small-eared cats, an endangered species, accounted for the largest group at 103 dead. Scops owls and collared scops owls, both of which are national treasures, totaled 102 and 49, respectively. Other protected species on the death list include flying squirrels, Reeve's turtles, brown hawk-owls and otters.
The total of dead animals was far higher than previous estimates, with the number of roadkill found on Highway 88 seven times greater than what was expected. According to figures from the Korea Highway Corporation, from 1988 to June 2006, 864 animals were killed on a 44km stretch of Highway 88 from Hamyang and Namwon. But the SNU study counted 1,845 dead animals in just 30 months.
Particularly worrying for scientists is the number of small-eared cats and scops owls that are falling victim to Korea's cars. Researcher Choi Tae-young pointed out that Korea has no large wild animals, so predators such as small-eared cats serve an important function in the ecosystem and scops owls play a critical role in controlling insects and spiders. Professor Park stressed the urgency of coming up with measures to protect animals and ensure the safety of drivers.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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