For over 20 years now, there has been a ban on driving on district road 16 between Wachenheim and Lindenberg at night during a migration phase for toads and amphibians. In the period from February to April, a flashing light on the corresponding traffic sign signals this closure at dusk. Nevertheless, drivers continue to ignore the signs and drive along the route.

Nature conservation officer saves salamanders – woman gets soggy

According to environmentalists, many drivers want to avoid the detour, which is around twelve minutes longer. Kai Hensel, volunteer nature conservation officer for the Bad Dürkheim district, describes to SWR how a driver had to stop because he was driving Female salamander saved and therefore stood on the road. “I showed the driver the animal and told him that otherwise he would have run over it,” Hensel told SWR.

And further: “His wife in the passenger seat then got really upset. She said: ‘You don’t have to let him tell you anything. We are hunters. We are allowed to drive here.’ Something like that makes me really angry and that sometimes makes amphibian rescue really tiring.”

“Only the pregnant females try to get across the road to the stream, which runs parallel to the K16. They want to lay their larvae there,” says Susanne Dopp from NABU Mittelhaardt to SWR.

Amphibian enthusiasts want automatic barriers

In the past three years, conservationist Hensel says he has counted around 500 fire salamanders that were killed – all of them pregnant females. Extrapolated, this means that around 15,000 salamanders could not be born as a result. These are only the animals that were discovered during inspections. The actual number of salamanders killed is likely to be significantly higher. Also Diseases are causing more and more problems for animals.

Conservationists are therefore campaigning for the installation of an automatic barrier that completely prevents driving through during closed times. Then drivers would no longer be able to ignore the closure so easily.