Canada City Closes Road to Allow Safe Passage of Endangered Salamander

Thought Question: What are some ways you could make your own neighborhood or community safer for animals?

Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals, once said: "Not to hurt our humble brethren is our first duty to them, but to stop there is not enough. We have a higher mission — to be of service to them wherever they require it."

The citizens of the town of Burlington, Ontario, understand that mission. Each year, the city closes off a section of an important road to assist in the yearly migration of the endangered Jefferson salamander. The amphibians need to cross King Road to reach “vernal pools.” These small short-term bodies of water are vital to their reproduction. The pools fill up in the spring and go dry in the summer.

“Salamanders don’t follow road regulations,” Gabby Zagorski, an ecology monitor with Conservation Halton of Burlington, told The Washington Post. “That’s how they end up getting hit.” 

The salamanders are between four and eight inches long. They're brown or gray in color with blue flecks sometimes. They live mostly underground in the woods. They come out to breed in the springtime. The species isn't threatened in the US. But it is on the verge of extinction in Canada.

For 13 years, Burlington has closed off King Road to help these salamanders cross it safely. And residents accept the inconvenience.

“(Each) year, it’s a welcome sign of spring to close King Road to provide safe passage for ‘Jeff’ and ‘Sally’ in their quest to find a mate,” Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward said in a statement. Ward posted it on the city’s website. “It is incumbent upon us to serve as stewards of the environment which we share.”

The road, which closed on March 12, will remain shut until April 9.   

Photo of endangered Jefferson salamander from Wikimedia Commons.