This year's hunting season was marked by activities connected to the technical fences which prevent wild animals from roaming freely. There has been much talk about the damage caused by the fences, but even more troublesome is the issue of roadkill - animals hit by cars, says Lado Bradač, the president of the Hunters Associations of Slovenia.
From September last year until today there have been reports of 18 animal deaths because of the border fence with Croatia, which is considerably less than the number of animals that die in traffic. "With my colleagues we have come to realize that around 7.000 animals die in car and rail traffic accidents on a yearly level. The accidents cause damage, misfortune and the unnecessary deaths of wild animals," says Bradač.
The situation in this field has been improving for more than a decade now, mostly thanks to the more responsible attitude of the managers of hunting grounds and the systematic measures, such as the audible deterrent devices on the A2 highway in Gorenjska.
Blue reflectors were also put up in August on 24 kilometers of state roads and 20 hunting grounds, to prevent animals from crossing roads when cars are passing. Boštjan Pokorny, the head of the Scientific Council and the Slovenian Hunters Association, explains: "In three months it showed that on the 24 kilometers of road we had almost half less deer and stags hit by cars, compared to the same periods from previous years."
Contributing to finding solutions to the problem is also the cooperation agreement between the Hunters Association and the Ministry of Infrastructure, in the field of reducing the risk of roadkill on main and regional roads. The agreement will improve the system of registering wild animals and enable better access to information about problematic road sections.