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Robert Belley says a few metal bars on his truck saved his life.
“I realized we hit something … I could still see the moose trying to walk across the highway. He was still alive and then after that, pain came crashing in,” Belley recalls.
He and his wife hit a moose near Lanigan on a fall evening in 2024.
Two years later, he can barely use his left hand, meaning he can’t do construction work and has struggled to receive an adequate amount to replace his lost income.
Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) is warning people about wildlife collisions at this time of year, when more moose and deer are crossing roads.
The Crown insurance company says about 8,800 wildlife-related collisions are reported in the province annually, leading to a five-year average of 400 injuries and two deaths.
Belley said he wishes people took the dangers more seriously.
“It’s not a joke. It can seriously, permanently hurt you. It can actually kill you. People need to actually slow down on these highways,” he said.
Troy Corbett, director of traffic safety community engagement at SGI, said fall tends to be a busier time for wildlife collisions, especially involving deer.
“It’s the meeting time of the year where they may be more active in traveling, maybe routes that they’re maybe not familiar with,” Corbett said.
People can avoid accidents by using caution when wildlife might be more active, slowing down, looking out for signs of animals near the road and using their headlights’ high beams when appropriate.
“If a collision is unavoidable, we just recommend that you stay calm, slow down and steer away from the animal,” Corbett said.
SGI also recommends steering toward the spot the animal came rather than where it’s going, and being more cautious at dawn and dusk, when there is more glare to interfere with vision.
Deer and coyotes most often hit, rescuer says
Bonnie Dell, executive director of the Wildlife Rescue Society of Saskatchewan, sees the impact on animals up close.
Several years ago, she coordinated the rescue of an adult coyote that was hit by a vehicle outside Regina at night.
“[The driver] knew she hit something but didn’t realize it was still in the grille of her car when she pulled into her driveway. She just glanced behind her and there were four legs that were sticking out,” Dell said.
A volunteer helped take it to rehab and it was released six weeks later, fully recovered.
Her organization gets calls about collisions with animals at least about every other day, mainly deer and coyotes, she said.
“Every individual animal is valuable, and it’s a sad statistic and it’s really upsetting for the people that hit them. We get people phoning us that are really, really in tears and they don’t know what to do.”
She tells people to call the organization if they aren’t sure about next steps.
‘Like hitting a wall’
Bernie Borgmann, owner of Hooker’s Towing and Recovery, has been towing vehicles for 40 years. He said 10 to 20 per cent of the incidents he responds to involve wildlife.
“It’s like hitting a wall, right? And they do move and they do rag-doll off your vehicle quite a bit,” he said.
In his storage area, he currently has a car that hit a moose and two that hit deer, all within the last month.
“This year it hasn’t been too bad, but we’re just in the start of it,” he said.
His experiences with tending to wildlife collisions range from animals going through windshields to hitting multiple animals, he said.
“It’s traumatizing … Some people have compassion, too, because it’s another life you’re taking, really … I think it makes them realize how dangerous the roads are.”
