Vertebrate Roadkill in Santa Catarina State’s Plateau, Southern Brazil

Resumo

Everyday thousands of animals are killed on highways and several studies have recorded these deaths annually. In the present study the researcher traveled, twice a day, a 70km long stretch of a highway in the plateau region of Santa Catarina state, southern Brazil, between September 2017 and May 2018. 350 vertebrate roadkill were recorded in total, the maximum recorded was 10 dead vertebrates per day. On average 2.69 vertebrates were victims of traffic per sampling day, totaling 0.02 individuals/km/day. There was neither a significant difference in the number of roadkill per day in the number of roadkill. This fact indicates that the death rate is constant, resulting in even greater damage to biodiversity. Another environmental problem was recorded, the roadkill contained a large amount of domestic animals, indicating a high rate of abandonment of animals.