Wildlife fencing: Is it effective?

Interstate 25 south of Pueblo doesn’t have the wildlife fencing that was installed several years ago in southern El Paso County.

Many people wonder if fencing would have prevented Monday’s crash that killed Ronnle Trujillo, 43. The Pueblo newspaper deliveryman and father of five drove a truck that hit an elk.

“I don’t think it would have mattered from a safety perspective,” said Trooper Art Gumke of the Colorado State Patrol, who responded to the accident. “The true factors are that he was speeding, and he was ejected because he wasn’t wearing a seat belt.”

The Colorado Department of Transportation is responsible for installing wildlife fencing. The agency placed fencing between Fountain and the Pueblo County line after a fatal crash influenced by another vehicle’s collision with a deer.

“Animal-related crashes have dropped significantly,” said CDOT spokesman Bob Wilson.

Yet the agency doesn’t plan to place fencing along the Pueblo County crash site.

“We’ll investigate further and see if there are any patterns,” Wilson said. “But it usually isn’t a problem. It may be the first fatal crash involving an animal on the Interstate that I know of.”

Jill Canada recently had a close call of her own. Her car was totaled after she hit a deer in Castle Rock last month.

“I think a deer’s going to come out in front of you, regardless of whether you can slow down or swerve to avoid it,” Canada said. “Going south of Pueblo, I used to drive at night and I had at least a dozen times where a deer jumped out in front of me, and I’ve been able to swerve because there’s not a lot of traffic.”

The situation has more drivers concerned about protecting themselves from driving into large animals like deer and elk.

“Most of my vehicles have deer whistles on the bumpers,” said Tony Ortiz. “They emit a high-pitched whistle that scare deer away. They help immensely.”

Canada is a believer in fencing.

“I think it works,” she said.