WATCH: More than 100 pronghorn dead after seeking refuge across eastern Colorado
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) is encouraging drivers to slow down and watch for pronghorn after they say they've had at least 100 of them die along eastern Colorado roadways.
"This is really abnormal. We do have some road kill every year, but these numbers are extremely high," Tim Kroening, CPW Area Wildlife Manager said.
The agency released a startling video of some of the dead animals on Tuesday.
According to the agency, pronghorn cross roadways as they attempt to seek refuge from deep snow.
"Pronghorn can't move quickly on icy roads to escape oncoming traffic," Colorado Parks and Wildlife Southeast Region wrote on X. "And because pronghorn prefer to go under fences rather than jump over, many are trapped on the roads because snow is 2 feet deep and there isn't room for them to crawl under the bottom wires."
CPW tells KRDO13 that pronghorn roam all across the eastern plains, "From just east of Denver, all the way out to Byers, down south to Lamar, over to Pueblo, and on up to Colorado Springs."
Along with putting drivers on alert, CPW is also asking landowners to plow sections of their fields if they are able. This gives the animals a safer place to gather, away from area roads.
KRDO13's own Michael Logerwell saw a large number of the animals crossing near a Highway 24 closure off Constitution Avenue after heaving snow on Friday.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife says they will continue to monitor the herds and removing carcasses.