BC-MT-Wildlife-De-icer,0617

Semi plows through bighorn sheep licking up salt-based de-icer

THOMPSON FALLS, Mont. (AP) - At least 25 bighorn sheep lapping up salt-based deicer on Montana 200 have been struck and killed by vehicles this year, including seven struck by one semi east of here earlier this month.

Witnesses told Bruce Sterling, a wildlife biologist with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, that the truck's brake lights never came on as it passed a readerboard asking drivers to slow down because sheep congregate on that part of the highway and that 18 had already been killed this year.

The trailerless semi slammed into the herd, killing at least seven sheep, cutting some in half, Sterling said. Others may have been fatally injured, but wandered away before dying, Sterling said.

The driver stopped at a hunter checkpoint farther down the road where Sterling was working on the morning of Nov. 10.

"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," Sterling said, adding he didn't get to talk to the man about why he did it.

"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."

Sterling said the semi sustained some damage to its bumper, right light and right fender.

In an effort to reduce sheep deaths, which have topped 350 since Sterling began keeping records in 1985, FWP has tried putting salt blocks out away from the highway, with little success.

"Salt is a natural mineral the sheep routinely seek out," Sterling says, "and finding it on the road has become a learned behavior over the course of many years. It's difficult to put salt blocks out and expect them to find it."

They've fired cracker shells near the herd, and the loud explosion works - for about a half hour.

Then they're back, licking up the de-icer again.

"Our saving grace is that the sheep aren't active at night," Sterling says. "They go up into the cliffs to bed down at night. If they were down on the road at night, I don't know if we'd have any left."

The sheep are attracted to the highway by the de-icer in the winter and by new vegetation growing near the sun-warmed highway in the spring.

Sterling is trying to come up with a way to discourage the sheep from the highway or better warn motorists to their presence.

One option 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 when sheep are near the road.

"People get accustomed to the readerboards," he says. "You can drive by them eight times, slow down, and never see a single sheep, and the ninth time you figure you won't again and then there they are, 15 sheep on the highway."

Radio-collaring has worked in Arizona, but it's expensive and labor intensive, Sterling said.

He is also investigating whether a non-salt-based liquid de-icer might work.

"I don't know if they are effective in this climate, but it might be worth experimenting with some to see," he said.

Charity Watt Levis, public information officer with the Montana Department of Transportation, says her department would certainly be open to discussing it.

We're always trying to balance safety issues. We'd be open to discussions weighing the benefits and risks," she said.

Information from: Missoulian, http://www.missoulian.com