Spike in bighorn sheep deaths drives B.C. community to seek solutions

Nicole Trigg says the roads around Radium Hot Springs, B.C., have become deadly for bighorn sheep in the past few months and she's looking for solutions.

"Fourteen killed in 2½ months, when the average in the past was maybe 10 to 13 a year," the village resident told CBC News in a Tuesday interview.

Trigg said it was a recent surge in roadway deaths near the southeastern B.C. resort village that got her attention. In the last two weeks of November, four sheep died from vehicle collisions on Highway 95.

"And I realized, something has to be done about this because these sheep are getting killed. Word is not getting out to the community."

So off to Facebook she went to rally the troops by creating a page dedicated to the cause: Help the Radium Bighorn herd.

The group hopes the slogan "slow your roll" will get people thinking about their speedometer.

• Bighorn sheep deaths in Radium Hot Springs raise concerns about traffic in the area
• Disease wipes out at least 20 wild bighorn sheep in quick succession in B.C.'s Interior

"Once at 250, the herd's numbers dropped to 130 in fall 2021. Seven were killed in two weeks in January 2022, including two pregnant females," the Facebook page states.

The group also wants other solutions considered, such as a wildlife crossing at the south end of the village.

A wildlife scientist says the collisions have all taken place on a roughly four-kilometre stretch of Highway 95.

"It's a very localized issue," Clayton Lamb of the University of British Columbia told CBC News.

"And if we could fence it and keep those sheep off the highway there and allow them to cross with an overpass, then we could keep sheep and motorists safer on that stretch of highway."

Lamb says these sheep are special.

"They're very restricted to small patches of habitat, and this herd alone, they're unique, distinct herds. Let's say if these sheep went to zero, it's not as if they're part of a bigger population that would just infill."

The province's transportation department says plans for an overpass option with fencing are pretty much done. It would likely be located south of the community, on what is called "Mile Hill." The initial estimate is roughly $4 million, as the province looks for funding options.