Four bears down: South Pass’s cautionary tale of how roadkill begets more roadkill

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The initial roadkill reported to Brian Debolt on South Pass was pretty routine.

A westbound motorist heading toward Farson had careened into an elk, now lying dead in the ditch near mile marker 54 of the thoroughfare that generally follows the route of the historic Oregon Trail.

“I got a call at like 2 o’clock in the morning,” said DeBolt, the Lander-based large carnivore conflict coordinator for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. “If it’s dead and it’s off the road, it’s usually not our concern.”

Carcasses in highway right-of-ways — which can amass in shocking numbers — are typically collected by the Wyoming Department of Transportation.

Two days after the