Since 1980, 63 grizzlies have been hit by trains and killed along a section of railroad near Glacier National Park. Many died because they got drunk on fermented grain spilled from railcars and couldn’t move fast enough to outrun the trains.
Sounds like this can easily be solved by installing lights/alarms along the track that are triggered by the train’s approach. If the bears are too drunk to get out of the way when the train gets there the options are either to A) slow the trains down and put the operators on bear watch duty or B) give the bears more time to move and make enough noise/light to kick that movement into high gear
I’m sure there’s heaps of easy solutions, just no incentive sadly. There’s dangerous intersections in my city that have gotten too many people killed and nothing has been done about them for years.
My neighbors used to have a crabapple tree in front of their house; the number of drunken deer I’ve seen has been both hilarious and extensive. Sidebar excluded, bear will still cross the tracks and so the issue is better addressed at the train level. I hate the idea of fences, so I’d opt for sound and visual deterrents
Oh, I’m very aware of animals getting drunk on fallen apples. That’s what I assumed this story would be. It’s not, though. It’s about bears getting drunk on grain that has fallen off of trains to ferment. So it’s an entirely different issue.
Sounds like this can easily be solved by installing lights/alarms along the track that are triggered by the train’s approach. If the bears are too drunk to get out of the way when the train gets there the options are either to A) slow the trains down and put the operators on bear watch duty or B) give the bears more time to move and make enough noise/light to kick that movement into high gear
I’m sure there’s heaps of easy solutions, just no incentive sadly. There’s dangerous intersections in my city that have gotten too many people killed and nothing has been done about them for years.
Hopefully something gets done about this, though.
Improving the cars such that they don’t spill their contents all over the place would also help.
My neighbors used to have a crabapple tree in front of their house; the number of drunken deer I’ve seen has been both hilarious and extensive. Sidebar excluded, bear will still cross the tracks and so the issue is better addressed at the train level. I hate the idea of fences, so I’d opt for sound and visual deterrents
Oh, I’m very aware of animals getting drunk on fallen apples. That’s what I assumed this story would be. It’s not, though. It’s about bears getting drunk on grain that has fallen off of trains to ferment. So it’s an entirely different issue.