As you drive down the road it is hard not to notice the dead animals that have been struck by cars. Sometimes you see an entire family such as a mother raccoon and her cubs dead along the side of the road. These animals have been confused by headlights. In panic and confusion they rush into the path of the on coming car.
Nobody really knows how many animals are dying on our roads each year.
No one is collecting or counting the dead animals. In the United States, the Humane Society did a study in the late 1950's and early 1960's to try to find out just how many animals were dying. Different animals are killed in each part of the continent. In California's Sacramento Valley, pheasants and barn owls die. An observer counted 36 dead barn owls one winter.