Safe Deer on Tracks

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

Lion Dung on Train Tracks Keeps Deer Safe
Wed August 20, 2003 10:25 AM ET
TOKYO (Reuters) - Railway officials in Wakayama, a largely rural prefecture in western Japan, racked their brains for months for a way to keep wild deer from running onto train tracks and getting killed.
Finally, inspiration struck: scare them off with lion dung.

Taking hints from research by forestry experts, who found that deer shunned the aroma of the king of beasts, officials at the local branch of West Japan Railway Co (JR West) got the material they needed from a local amusement park.

“I forget how much, but it was a whole lot. I think about 100 kg (220 lb),” Takao Maeda of JR West in Shingu, some 450 km (280 miles) west of Tokyo, said on Wednesday.

“They sort of mixed it with water and then spread it along the tracks.”

The strategy appears to have worked for now.

For along a 400 meter (1,300 ft) stretch of tracks where a number of deer were struck last year – the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said 30 between January and October – none have been hit since the dung was spread last November.

In fact, officials are now looking to spread the success even further by using the same method elsewhere.

Maeda admitted that there is, however, a huge drawback.

“The odor is really, really foul,” he said. “So we can only use it on tracks in uninhabited areas.”

The plan is also apparently hard on the amusement park, which freezes the dung and stocks it until needed.

But Maeda said the trouble is worth it. “We’re all really pleased to help keep the deer from being killed.”

2

Do deer get hit by trains often, in this country??
TIM A

3

In Alaska, moose often end up under a train. Bears, caribou, squirells, rabbits.
Deer? Don’t know, i’ve never seen a deer in AK[:0]

4

considering the nutcases that bunk down on tracks here, we could use some motivators to keep them away: skunk odor or whatever… their minds may be on a sea cruise, but if they can smell a woman’s perfume and a hot meal, their noses work pretty good…

5

wi***hey would invent a smell to put in cars to keep people off their cell phones!

Mook

6

I heard that on a steam run tourist line in Kenya that runs through a wild game park that they have a problem with elephants. Aparently they hit between 20-25 elephants per year. To me that seems like a very high number and would be a cause for great concern if I ran that railway.

7

with people moving for the country life It wouldn’t surprise me.I saw a guy last year walking the tracks hunting for deer.can you say idiot?
stay safe
joe

8

i have hit several deer and a few dogs 1 cat a horse. the key to not hitting a dog is dim the head lights and ring the bell leave the horn alone. the bell will ring and the dog will jump to the side. ( most of the time) turkey ive got 2 of them. and alot of little critters.

9

One time on a tourist railroad we almost hit a deer. I was sitting in the car closest to the engine and saw 2 deer running alongside the train. We were coming to a tunnel and if the deer couldn’t cross before the tunnel they would be dead meat, so the engineer slowed the train down and they crossed in front just before we entered the tunnel. It was very interesting.

Willy

10

We have had 2 suicides in the past 11 months. The deer usually don’t try to commit suicide. It’s the humans that you gotta watch for. A female conductor was present for one of the suicides. It really tore that poor gal up…sad.
Ken

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A few months ago i saw a dog that almost got hit by a locomotive. It was reversing on wye track near my house, and some idiots walked their dog 3 feet away from the loco. Dog was without its leash. That dog tried to cross the tracks to get to its human. It got hit by a coupler and almost got under a wheel, but the lucky thing escaped shaken, but not hurt. The dog is not stupid, people were.[:(][:(][:(!]

12

(1) Cattle are the worst. Was on a monthly head-end ride over my territory on Amtrak when we hit 38 on one pass. Found where a rancher had cut a six wire fence to graze his cattle on an almost 1 mile wide section of R/W. Showed this to the state brand inspector. Railroad did not have to pay the rancher as he allowed his range cattle to become dog food.

(2) Have been in the cab when we hit a string of deer crossing single file at right angles, elk, ducks, pheasant (TrMstr drew up a crosshairs on the engineer’s window and grilled the hogger about hunting pheasant out-of-season!), a Llama in Apache Canyon and an occupied wheelchair (suicide) -understand your thoughts Ironken…In many places wildlife thrive on the railroad R/W because the farms and highway R/w provide no cover or protection…
Mudchicken

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Hey mud, I see that your stompin’ grounds are Den-LaJunta. That is home for me. Gotta lotta friends there. E-mail me with what road you are getting raped, uh, I mean having your job scabbed out by, uh I mean work for. OK, OK, I’m a little sarchastic toward the company. I have an old friend that is a trackrider on the BNSF on some of that territory. ironken2001@sbcglobal.net That’s if you don’t mind. I don’t wanna invade your privacy.
Ken

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I hate to even talk about it, but my dad saw a dog on the BNSF tracks in Romeoville, Illinois it was already hurt pretty bad, but then a BNSF trailer train came… Well it was going about 60mph, and a man came up and tried to pull the dog off the tracks but it couldn’t make it, and the dog got hit, it’s sad to hear since I love dogs. I wi***hey would invent something to keep them off the tracks.[V][V][V][V][V]

15

A friend once had a cab ride in Amtrak Chicago to New Orleans route and said the entire route was marked by dead dogs and other animals. RR rights of way are good places to see wild animals (and wild flowers) due to the isolation. WE see coyotes and fox and deer on the south side of Milwaukee. Lots of dead possums and coons too.
Dave Nelson

16

I thought I’d cheer things up with a happier story about dogs and trains. My grandpa told me this story about a dog that belonged to a guy he knew. The dog loved to chase trains and would always run along side them. One day the dog ran across a road at a railroad crossing and so with the pavement raised up to the level of the track was much closer to the train. The dog ended up getting hit in the head by the steps on a caboose. Miraculously, the dog survived and lived a healthy life for many years after that. He still continued to chase trains like always, but never would go across the road at a crossing because of what happened before. True story.

17

Wow, that is a happier story, and that IS a miracle!

18

Once we hit a turkey, doing 60mph on a RoadRailer. That poor bird hit the plow and up and over the locomotives. The radiator fans were shooting up feathers for a mile or so. Must have decided to commit suicide instead of becoming Thanksgiving Dinner.

19

Animals are attracted to tracks cause its a lot of clear space. Its much easier to walk for them and survive during brutal winters here. Unfortunately its hard to survive when train comes right to you at 60 mph. As for dogs- keep them on a leash!

20

OK, this is a really old topic, but I decided to resurect it because I’ve heard an update on the Japanese railways spreading lion dung on the rails to prevent deer from being hit. Apparently the project was indeed a success, but they have now stopped doing it because of complaints from MOW workers and passengers because of the smell of the lion dung. That certainly isn’t a surprise to me.