Roundabout way to aid A96 badgers
5 June 2006 - BBC News
The roundabout on the A96 was built as part of improved access to the
airport. A tunnel may be dug near a new roundabout on the A96 in a bid to reduce
the road's badger death toll. Thirteen badgers have been killed on the route
between Nairn and Inverness since January.
Charity
Scottish Badgers said talks had been held about giving the animals a safer
way of crossing one section of the road.
He said a tunnel at a roundabout built as part of a £4m road linking the A96
to Inverness Airport was an option.
Two badgers have been killed on the Nairn side of the roundabout in the past
month.
Ian Hutchison, Scottish Badgers development and education officer, said the
charity was also in talks with Scottish Executive, Scottish Natural Heritage and
Highland Council about assessing the potential impact on badgers from two other
major developments planned for the area.
One is a proposed new village of 5,000 homes between Nairn and Inverness and
the other plans to dual carriageway the A96 between the Highland capital and
airport.
Mr Hutchison said: "We are in discussions with the Scottish Executive and
Highland Council about a tunnel at the roundabout for that section of road." He
added: "The executive is quite open to suggestions about helping badgers. We are
not expecting councils or the executive to start digging up existing roads. Our
purpose is to collect data to identify hot spots and, if there is remedial road
work being done, to talk about helping the badgers."
Mr Hutchison said badgers were frequently knocked down on the A96 where it
passed Tornagrain, Gollanfield and Culloden.
In the last five years, 154 animals have been killed on the Highland stretch
of the road.
Over the same period, 386 badgers have been killed across the whole of the
Highlands.
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