Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 26, 2007

FORT SMITH - Wood Buffalo National Park is warning motorists about the danger of bison on Highway 5 to Fort Smith.

From mid-August to early this month, motorists had hit eight bison along the highway, plus one on the Pine Lake Road.

Sharon Irwin, the park's warden supervisor, said it's the highest number of bison to be hit during the autumn in at least the past six years.

"We don't know what's going on this fall," Irwin said, although she noted the highway is icier than usual.

No one was injured in any of the incidents, which involved a variety of vehicles - cars, trucks and transports.

Irwin said one of the cars was a compact Ford Focus, which suffered minimal damage.

Seven bison were killed outright or were so badly injured they had to be destroyed. Two were injured, but survived.

All of the collisions have been at night, when the dark bison become harder to see.

"We're asking people to slow down at night," Irwin said.

She added bison are on the move in the fall as they relocate to winter ranges.

Irwin said most of the collisions have occurred on a roughly 50-kilometre stretch of Highway 5 between the Nyarling River and a Department of Transportation grader shed located about 100-kilometres west of Fort Smith.

Vaughn Sutton was driving towards Fort Smith on Nov. 4 when he hit a bison about 100-kilometre west of town.

The Hay River resident said it was dark in the early evening when he came upon a herd of 10 to 12 bison.

The animals were walking towards Fort Smith, and all Sutton saw was the black of the back legs and white snow on top of the animals.

"It looked just like the patchy pavement," he said, adding the highway was snow-covered in areas but was not a factor in the accident.

Sutton said he might have had a half second before he hit one of the animals with his rented Ford Explorer.

"I was right on top of them before I realized," he said, adding he was travelling at about 70 km/h at the time.

Sutton, who was wearing a seatbelt, was uninjured.

However, the bison was severely injured and dragged itself into the bush. It was later destroyed by a wildlife officer.

Sutton believes his experience should help warn other drivers about the danger of bison on the highway. "I think you could assume they're always there."

The second highest number of bison hit in the past half-dozen years was four in the fall of 2004. Sometimes there are no bison hit at all on the highway during the fall.