Wildlife Mortality on Single Track Bhalwal Road, Sargodha, Pakistan

Abstract

Wild animals are very important for our ecosystem maintenance. In the last few decades, the rate of animal’s accident on roads has increased due to heavy traffic. This research was carried out to find the reasons for road mortality of animals on Bhalwal Road, Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan. It was noticed various animals like rats, porcupines, lizards, snakes, turtles and jackals lived in crops and trees that were found around the road and they were killed by road traffic while crossing the roads. It was seen that almost 80 to 90 % of road mortality was due to over speed driving. Moreover, the travellers were not aware of the importance of these common wildlife, so they did not bother the animals moving on the road. It was observed that most of the animals that killed on roads belonged to reptiles (Monitor Lizards’), amphibians (Frogs and Tortoise) birds (crow) and mammals (Jackals, mouse, dogs, cats and porcupines). It was concluded in the study that there is a need to highlight the importance of wild animals for the locals, travellers and also for the stakeholders that start work on mitigation strategies that help to conserve these wild animals.