The Nature Conservation Association wants to use an app to make the streets safer for squirrels. From now on, animals that have died due to traffic can be reported, as stated in a statement from the Association for Nature Conservation in Bavaria published in Nuremberg on Wednesday. The aim is to identify so-called roadkill hotspots so that squirrel bridges can be built there in the future as a protective measure.
According to the release, squirrels are known to overcome obstacles such as roads and paths by jumping from tree to tree. If this is not possible because the trees are too far apart and the crowns are not closed, the animals would have to move to the ground. When crossing streets, however, there is a great risk of being hit by a car.
With the help of the new app, such danger spots can be identified and, ideally, defused. In this way, new trees could be planted and expansive crowns preserved. Special rope bridges stretched from tree to tree would also allow the animals to cross safely. In the new app, every squirrel spotted can be assigned its own fur color, as they say.
The options “Squirrel runs across the street” and “Squirrel dead” have also been added. According to its own information, the Federation for Nature Conservation has been collecting data about squirrels with the help of citizens since April 2020. “With currently 52,000 reports and over 66,000 registered animals, we have already been able to pursue many exciting questions and present our findings in numerous maps and diagrams,” says Martina Gehret, head of the research project.