Road mortality is one of the most significant human-caused sources of wildlife death globally. Effective mitigation exists but requires investment, planning and maintenance to deliver welfare benefits.
Road mortality causes mass individual animal deaths and, for those not killed outright, serious injuries requiring immediate triage and rehabilitation or humane euthanasia. The welfare cost extends beyond the individual: road mortality removes adults from breeding populations, disrupts family groups in social species, and leaves dependent young without parents. The welfare and conservation case for wildlife road mitigation is strong - crossing structures work when properly designed and maintained. The challenge is retrofitting mitigation to existing road networks and ensuring that mitigation structures are actually used, which requires both physical design and population monitoring to verify effectiveness.