Tell the DOT: Protect Wolves to Make America’s Roads Safer

Across the country, collisions with wildlife injure tens of thousands of people every year and claim hundreds of lives. Deer-vehicle crashes are especially deadly on rural highways, costing families, communities, and taxpayers billions. But research shows one of our most effective road-safety tools is already working in the wild: gray wolves.

A major study examining county-level data in Wisconsin found that as wolves returned, deer-vehicle collisions fell by an average of 24 percent. Researchers estimate that wolves prevent more than 1,100 crashes each year in Wisconsin alone, avoiding serious injuries and saving lives. Similar findings are emerging in other regions, showing that wolves don’t just belong in nature — they actively protect people.

Wolves reduce crashes in two ways. They keep deer populations in check, and they change deer behavior. By hunting near roads and travel corridors, wolves push deer away from highways, creating a natural “landscape of fear” that prevents collisions before they happen. No warning sign or reflector can do that.

This is why we are asking the Trump Administration's Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, to advocate for wolves to make roads safer.

Protecting people on our roads is part of the Department of Transportation's mission, and as a former Wisconsin congressman, Secretary Duffy is familiar with the research and the real-world dangers drivers face. This science deserves national attention — and action.

Yet gray wolves are once again under threat. Legislation in Congress would strip wolves of federal protections, reopening the door to widespread killing and undoing decades of recovery. 

And the Trump Administration’s US Fish & Wildlife Service has supported efforts to strip gray wolves of federal protection. If these efforts succeed, the consequences won’t stop at state lines. We’ll see more deer near roads, more crashes, more injuries, and more lives lost nationwide.

This is not just a conservation issue. It’s a public safety issue. Wolves are providing measurable, life-saving benefits to drivers across America — and we can’t afford to lose them.

Please sign the petition to urge Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy to publicly oppose efforts to remove protections for gray wolves and to recognize wildlife conservation as essential infrastructure for safer roads.

Sources

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2025/gray-wolfs-safer-roads-delisting/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/wisconsin-counties-wolves-see-fewer-collisions-between-cars-and-deer-180977819/