Digital Commons Network^™

Relationship Between Spatial Distribution Of Sika Deer–Train Collisions And Sika Deer Movement In Japan, Akinao Soga, Shin-Ichiro Hamasaki, Noriko Yokoyama, Toshiyuki Sakai, Koichi Kaji

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Collisions between trains and sika deer (Cervus nippon) cause various problems involving animal and humans safety, as well as economic cost. A better understanding of deer crossing railway lines and deer–train accidents is necessary to develop effective mitigation measures. We investigated the collisions among habitat selection, railway-line crossing movement, and deer–train collisions. We predicted that the risk of deer–train collisions would increase with increasing probability of deer crossing railway lines, which is related to habitat selection surrounding in those areas. Deer stayed in forests to rest during the day and moved to grasslands or rice paddy fields to …