Roadkill numbers in Alberta trend upward

Provincial data suggests Alberta's roadkill numbers are soaring, with snakes hit particularly hard last year.

Provincial data suggests Alberta’s roadkill numbers are soaring, with snakes hit particularly hard last year.

Alberta Wildlife Watch says almost 400 snake carcasses were reported to it in 2023. The year before there were eight, and in 2021 there were just two.

The program’s database says in all, more than 7,000 animals were reported hit and killed by vehicles last year. That is a 73 per cent increase from 2019.

Deer are the most commonly killed animal on Alberta’s roads, the data suggests, as more than 4,250 have been reported killed in each of the last three years.

Other animals that are commonly killed by cars every year are skunks, coyotes, rabbits, raccoons, porcupines, moose, and pet dogs and cats.

Dale Gienow, with Edmonton-based wildlife rescue and rehabilitation organization WILDNorth, said the snake deaths may be an outlier.

Gienow said one theory is that a hibernacula, an underground refuge for snakes during the winter, was close to a road.

If that’s the case, which could be given that many of the snake strikes are marked as occurring in the fall, it means a large number of the slithering reptiles were making their way to a den when they were hit.