Endangered salamanders will not risk getting squashed by cars and trucks when they cross a road in the central province of Ontario. The city of Kitchener has closed a quiet road for two months while Jefferson salamanders make their annual trek across it to temporary ponds that form when the snow melts.
These amphibians are protected under Ontario’s Endangered Species Act because they are in decline across the province.
“Being salamanders, they’re pretty slow. As a result, they actually have a hard time crossing large things like roads,” says Stephan Murphy, an ecologist at the University of Waterloo.
This is the fourth time the city has closed the road to traffic to protect salamanders crossing to breed.
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