Roadkill every day. Wild animals are dying on Polish roads

Squirrels, hedgehogs, roe deer, lynxes… Every day, wild animals die on roads because they do not know they should look carefully before crossing. Urbanization, which has encroached on valuable ecosystems, is partly to blame, but above all it is drivers’ inattention and haste. Can anything change?

Warning: animals on the road

Imagine enraged European bison charging through the middle of your garden, trampling your visiting relatives along the way. There would be an uproar, and people would reach for their rifles. Unfortunately, when the situation is reversed, it usually provokes little more than a shrug. And concern about whether the car has been damaged.

The website zwierzetanadrodze.pl collects data on animals killed by careless drivers, and its daily figures are shocking. Last weekend alone, dead hedgehogs, martens, moles, roe deer, squirrels, toads, blackbirds and even a tawny owl were found on Polish roads. In previous weeks, speeding vehicles also killed foxes, raccoon dogs, polecats, grass snakes, pheasants, fieldfares and dozens of other bird species.

Yet the National Register of Wildlife-Vehicle Collisions does not include every victim. It records only those reported by people who care enough to submit observations.

Protecting lynxes means easing off the accelerator

WWF Poland is also addressing the problem of road mortality. Since spring 2026, together with partner organizations, it has been running an information and education campaign to improve the safety of lynxes. These activities are part of the broader LIFE project Expanding the range of the Eurasian lynx in northern Poland.

Unfortunately, in the lake district belt of northern Poland, where populations of these magnificent wild cats have a chance to recover, road infrastructure relentlessly cuts across their migration corridors. Prof. Krzysztof Schmidt from the Mammal Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences explains that road collisions are the second most common cause of lynx mortality after natural causes.

There is little that can be done about the existing road network, although experts emphasize that wildlife crossings over roads are effective, and camera traps have confirmed that lynxes use them as well. Ultimately, however, responsibility lies with drivers, who should:

• obey speed limits;
• exercise particular caution in forest and meadow areas;
• actively watch for animals at the roadside at dawn and dusk.

A change in attitudes toward animals is needed

On 16 July, the scientific journal Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy published an appeal by researchers from the University of Portsmouth. They call for animals to be legally recognized as sentient beings capable of experiencing suffering. According to the researchers, who analyzed the current system of wildlife protection in Europe and the United Kingdom, the main problem is that nature is protected for its ecological and aesthetic value rather than for its own sake.

The authors emphasize that species are protected when they perform ecosystem functions or help achieve political objectives, but lose importance when they become politically inconvenient.

This uncomfortable reality also applies to roads, where the human need to travel from point A to point B is routinely placed above the lives and welfare of animals. According to a study published in May this year, between 2000 and 2022, roadkill involving 205 species was recorded on Poland’s national roads, and as many as 16% of those species are classified as threatened.

Mammals and amphibians account for most roadkill incidents, while birds and reptiles are affected less frequently. The highest number of collisions occurs during the summer months, when millions of Poles head off on holiday. Let us not allow this year’s vacations to contribute to suffering and death.

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Sources:

Wuczyński, A., Kustusch, K., Stolarz, P. et al. Patterns of wildlife-vehicle collisions in Poland: a cross-taxonomic analysis of a nationwide citizen science dataset. Sci Rep 16, 20754 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-52546-z

Cox, C., & Natali, M. (2026). Protecting Wildlife in Europe: A Comprehensive Analysis of Legislative Frameworks and Their Shortcomings. Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy, 1-30. https://doi.org/10.1080/13880292.2025.2619363

https://zwierzetanadrodze.pl/lista-obserwacji

https://www.wwf.pl/organizacje-przyrodnicze-na-rzecz-bezpieczenstwa-rysi-na-drogach