Few Car Crashes with Deer in Wisconsin, Perhaps Thanks to Wolves

In areas where gray wolf populations have grown, motorists have fewer collisions with deer, likely due to the predators keeping deer away from roadways.

Written byJef Akst

| 2 min read

A gray wolf runs along a road on a dreary day with pine trees in the distance

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Rebounding populations of gray wolves (Canis lupus) in Wisconsin are associated with reduced car accidents with deer, researchers have found. These predators frequent certain routes, or travel corridors, that include manmade roads, and the authors conclude that by keeping the deer away, the wolves did humans a favor. According to the study, published online May 24 in PNAS, counties where wolf populations returned after being wiped out in the middle of the 20th century saw declines in vehicle crashes with deer of 24 percent, on average, saving the state nearly $11 million annually.

“The icing on the cake is that wolves do this work all year long at their own expense,” Liana Zanette, an ecologist at Western University in Canada who was not involved in the study, tells The Atlantic. “It all seems like a win-win for those wolf counties.”

Because wolves prowl on roads, trails, ...

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Meet the Author

Jef Akst
Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
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