ABSTRACT

Much of the roadkill of wild animals is accidental, but some drivers intentionally target animals, especially those that are culturally stigmatized such as reptiles and amphibians. We aimed to evaluate the incidence of intentional snake roadkill on two highways in the Triângulo Mineiro, a Cerrado region in the Minas Gerais state, Brazil. We placed on the roadsides of each highway 40 snakes (40 pre-made models and 15 snake carcasses) and 40 plastic bottles filled with soil. The behavior of swerving the vehicle to hit the object was characterized as an intentional roadkill. Our sampling effort was 160 hours. We observed intentional roadkill, totaling 23 snakes and 12 controls hit on BR-050 highway and five snakes and five controls on MG-223 highway. Contrary to what we expected, drivers swerve to run over anything. Carcasses and models were hit with the same frequency. The characteristics of the highways influenced the number of intentional roadkill, most of them occurred on uphill lanes and were caused by trucks. Our study confirms the behavior of swerving the route to run over a wild animal as an intentional act. Therefore, measures to preserve wildlife are necessary, such as awareness campaigns and the creation of wildlife passages.

摘要

大部分野生动物被撞死都是意外，但有些司机故意以动物为目标，尤其是那些在文化上被污名化的动物，例如爬行动物和两栖动物。我们的目的是评估巴西米纳斯吉拉斯州塞拉多地区 Triângulo Mineiro 两条高速公路上故意撞死蛇的发生率。我们在每条高速公路的路边放置了 40 条蛇（40 条预制模型和 15 条蛇尸体）和 40 个装满泥土的塑料瓶。将车辆转向撞到物体的行为被定性为故意道路交通事故。我们的采样工作量为 160 小时。我们观察到有意的道路撞死，共有 23 条蛇和 12 个控件在 BR-050 ​​高速公路上被击中，5 条蛇和 5 个控件在 MG-223 高速公路上。与我们的预期相反，司机突然转向碾过任何东西。尸体和模型被击中的频率相同。高速公路的特点影响了故意道路交通事故的数量，大多数发生在上坡车道上，并且是由卡车造成的。我们的研究证实，转弯路线碾压野生动物是一种故意行为。因此，保护​​野生动物的措施是必要的，例如宣传活动和建立野生动物通道。