Are tourists killing off Colorado’s ground squirrels?

DENVER (KDVR) — According to Colorado State University researchers, yes, tourists are killing off ground squirrels.

A new report claims Colorado’s population boom and tourism push into the Rocky Mountain National Park killed off ground squirrels, particularly females. The study was done in the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, part of the Warner College of Natural Resources at CSU.

The study used 31 years’ worth of data about golden-mantled ground squirrels and traffic volume along County Road 317 in Gunnison County.

On average, about 5% of the squirrel population was road-killed each year. The roadkill rates rose during tourist seasons, which researchers tie to the number of visitors to a nearby destination.

Females were road-killed in…