Ray Ring

Senior Editor

The New York Times reports:

On a dark highway near Anchorage, Specialist Steven Cavanaugh of the Army, who had survived 300 missions in Iraq, was critically injured in December when his vehicle hit a moose. Specialist Cavanaugh died Dec. 6.

Meanwhile, the Casper Star-Tribune reports that Brandon Foster came home from Afghanistan and lasted 88 days in Wyoming, then:

On the 88th day, Brandon died in a car crash caused by deer on the road. He was 23.

The loss is terrible for family and friends, especially since it comes soon after the relief of his safe return from war.

The Star-Trib story is a feature on the life and death of young Brandon Foster.

The Times story sums up the problem, with info such as:

Wildlife-related crashes are a growing problem on rural roads around the country. The accidents increased 50 percent from 1990 to 2004, based on the most recent federal data, according to the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University …

The basic problem is that rural roads are being traveled by more and more people … Each year, about 200 people are killed in as many as two million wildlife-related crashes at a cost of more than $8 billion …

It’s something High Country News often covers. For our most recent story, on efforts to build wildlife road-crossings, go here. And for an in-depth HCN story on wildlife deaths (roadkill), including some interesting people who are obsessed with it, go here.