Advocate pushes for moose detection system

An advocate for wildlife fencing along stretches of highway is suggesting the New Brunswick government examine an initiative in Newfoundland and Labrador to test other ways to prevent moose collisions.

The N.L. government is spending $5 million trying out different ways to prevent moose collisions.

It's putting up moose fencing and installing two wildlife detection systems on two sections of highway, west of St. John's.

The moose detection system uses sensor technology and flashing warning lights to alert drivers when a large animal is on the highway.

The lights are attached to signs that say "Moose on Highway When Lights are Flashing." Once activated, the lights flash for two minutes.

Cathy McCollum, a Welsford resident, has lobbied the New Brunswick government for moose fencing for several years.

She said if the sensors are cheaper than fencing, it's something the provincial government should consider.

"They should be paying much attention to it," she said.

A group of N.L. citizens formed the Save Our People Action Committee to push the government to do more to prevent collisions with moose.

Eugene Nippard, the past president of the committee, said the two moose sensor systems, at $1.5 million, are cheaper than fencing.

"It's only new here in Newfoundland right now but from what we've seen it's been used in other parts of the world and it works," he said.

The first moose sensor has been installed on a short section of the Trans-Canada Highway west of St. John's.

A similar system will be installed on a section of the Trans-Canada Highway near Grand Falls-Windsor by the end of October.

The New Brunswick government has taken a different route in its attempt to prevent moose collisions. It installed moose fencing along sections of Highway 7, as well as Highway 8 and Highway 11 in northern New Brunswick.

The Department of Transportation puts up wildlife fences in areas that have had more than 15 moose collisions involving a moose over a five-year period.

The provincial government estimates there are more than 300 New Brunswick vehicle collisions with moose each year.

According to the Transportation Department, 85 per cent of these crashes happen between May and October, as the animals leave the forests to get away from pests and the heat and to eat roadside vegetation.