Spike in border crossings could further endanger rare pronghorn Associated Press
Jul. 6, 2005 12:00 AM
TUCSON - Biologists are concerned that an increase in migrant traffic on the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge could have deadly consequences for the endangered Sonoran pronghorn.
The biologists say they have noticed a spike since early spring during which traffic has gone from a handful of crossers a night to 200. The number of Border Patrol agents in the refuge has doubled.
The refuge shares a 60-mile border with Mexico, but the increased migration has been funneled though a single, narrow valley. That's the same area where biologists and volunteers have been installing watering holes and irrigation plots to bolster the native plants that pronghorn graze on.
John Hervert, a biologist with Arizona Game and Fish, fears the traffic could scare the deerlike pronghorn away from their best chance for survival.
"It doesn't take much to disturb the animals," he said. " . . . If it's the wrong kind of encounter, if the pronghorn were to run during the heat of the day, for a couple of miles, there's no doubt in my mind that it can lead to the death of the animal."
Only 58 adult Sonoran pronghorn survive in the United States today.
Historically, the animals could travel from the Colorado and Gila rivers to the Gulf of California to look for water. But highways, railroads and canals have cut off traditional water sources, and pronghorn will not step on a paved road. Biologists have seen them die of thirst rather than cross a highway.