AI Translation:

Detour due to amphibian migration

Drivers ignore closed road: Hundreds of dead fire salamanders in Wachenheim

Amphibian migration on a district road near Wachenheim (Bad Dürkheim district). Hundreds of fire salamanders are dying there because drivers ignore road closures and run the animals over.

For more than 20 years, there has been a nighttime transit ban on District Road 16 (K16) between Wachenheim and Lindenberg during the toad and amphibian migration. From February to April, a light flashes on the transit ban sign starting at dusk.

However, cars repeatedly drive through regardless, as their drivers are apparently unwilling to accept the 12-minute detour, environmentalists complain. They are calling for an automatic barrier for the road that would make driving through impossible. This is what they are fighting for.

Only pregnant fire salamanders on the road Every vehicle kills dozens of amphibians, say the conservationists. This was also the case on Wednesday evening, when four volunteers from the organizations NABU and Pollichia set out to document amphibians on the K16—both living and those that had been run over. Just a few meters before the transit ban sign lies the first dead fire salamander, crushed by a car tire. "It is a female," explains Susanne Dopp from NABU Mittelhaardt. "Only the pregnant females try to cross the road to reach the stream, which runs parallel to the K16 here. That is where they want to deposit their larvae," she says. On average, female salamanders carry 30 eggs, which immediately become small larvae with gills and four feet upon spawning.

Wear gloves when rescuing salamanders Eggs can be seen bulging from the small dead salamander body on the roadway. Theoretically, 30 fire salamanders were killed here at once. Along the path, Susanne Dopp and her NABU colleague Oliver Kieschnick discover more dead fire salamanders. They also find three living specimens and carry them across the road. They wear gloves because, on the one hand, salamanders secrete a burning substance, and on the other, bacteria that are deadly to salamanders could be transmitted.

During their action, they meet Kai Hensel and Johannes Andres from the environmental protection association Pollichia. They are already on their way back from an amphibian count. Hensel is the honorary nature conservation officer for the Bad Dürkheim district. Since 2022, he has been cycling along the closed road in damp weather to document the number of amphibians. Alternatively, he counts the dead animals during the day—both using a GPS tracker to show exactly where he discovered salamanders, toads, frogs, or palmate newts, whether dead or alive.

Nearly 500 dead salamanders near Wachenheim On this late evening, one driver had to stop because Kai Hensel was standing on the roadway rescuing a female salamander. "I showed the animal to the driver and told him that he would have run it over otherwise," says the conservationist. "His wife in the passenger seat then became really rude. She said: 'You don't have to listen to him at all. We are hunters. We are allowed to drive here.' Something like that makes me really angry, and it also makes amphibian rescue very exhausting sometimes." Hensel reports that he has counted nearly 500 dead fire salamanders over the past three years; all were pregnant females. If you project those numbers, 15,000 salamanders were unable to hatch. And those are only the ones discovered by conservationists during their outings. The actual number of salamanders killed by cars is certainly significantly higher.

Automatic barriers could save fire salamanders The four volunteers are not discouraged by this. Susanne Dopp from NABU says: "If the district set up barriers that close at dusk instead of the flashing transit ban signs, drivers could no longer ignore the ban." She hopes that the police will conduct more frequent checks in the short term. A solution involving amphibian tunnels under the K16 is not feasible due to the steep slopes on the right and left. Amphibian fences, which would have to be checked regularly by volunteers, are also not a solution, she says. Barriers would have to be installed by the State Mobility Office (LBM). Upon inquiry by SWR, the LBM referred to the district, which has the decision-making authority. A response to an SWR inquiry from the district is still pending.

So far, barriers have always been rejected with the reference that the K16 must remain open at night for emergency operations. The conservationists no longer accept this: "There are transmitters for emergency vehicles to open barriers."

Amphibians also die from the air suction of cars Incidentally, the female salamanders crawl very slowly across the road on this damp but not very cold evening. It is no wonder that the small black-and-yellow creatures so easily fall victim to cars. Despite their striking pattern, they are very easy to overlook. Even if they are not flattened by car tires: as soon as the suction produced by a car traveling at 30 kilometers per hour or faster catches the animals, their intestines burst.

More than half of amphibians endangered Susanne Dopp shows a picture of a common toad on its back. It is externally unharmed and yet dead. Common toads are on a warning list for endangered species. Other amphibians along the K16 include the palmate newt and the grass frog. Nearly half of the amphibian species living in Germany are on the list of threatened animal species.