Apparent hit-and-run crash near Limon kills 14 pronghorn

Part of a herd of pronghorn was killed Tuesday morning after apparently being hit by a semi-truck along U.S. Highway 24 near County Road 185 west of Limon.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife counted 14 animals killed, more than anyone could remember killed in one vehicle strike incident. Colorado State Patrol said there was no report by the driver, which is required when there is an accident, so it can be considered a hit-and-run.

"Roads were pretty slick this morning, and we had a pretty good blanket of fog, and so that really, I think that played a big part into kind of what caused this to happen," said Ethan Pruitt, Colorado Parks and Wildlife Limon district wildlife manager.

Pronghorn are related to antelope and are the fastest land mammal in North America capable of running close to 60 mph. They don't often languish when vehicles are approaching. The animals were hit before sunrise.

"[The driver] probably just got on them super fast and so they didn't have time to get spooked. But on a clear day, usually they'll spook pretty quick and they'll start running away from vehicles," said Pruitt. "It still would have been low visibility, and then throw the fog in there. And yeah, there was probably difficult for anyone and everything to see at that time of day."

Bucks, does and a yearling were killed. Herd size at this time of year is usually between 40 and 50 animals, said Pruitt.

Pronghorn are not considered endangered in Colorado.

Pruitt said some of the animals had to be euthanized: "the most unfortunate part is, if you have animal suffering, nobody wants to see that or have that going on. So that's kind of the big concern. And then also, if any of those animals are left, kind of blocking the highway, then essentially, what you're doing is setting up the driver behind you to have a hazard in the road."

Colorado Parks and Wildlife is planning to utilize the animals' remains as bait in a mountain lion study.