Wadena/Foam Lake RCMP are warning drivers in the area to slow down at night to avoid crashes with moose.

That may even mean driving below the speed limit, Sgt. Burton Jones told Bolt FM.

“Just because when you come upon a moose, they’re so dark and you don’t see them and the height that they are, they’re so damaging to vehicles and it can cause significantly more damage than a deer can.”

Of the nine vehicle crashes the detachment responded to in December, four involved deer and two involved moose, the force said in its December report to town council. Wildlife is in fact the largest cause of crashes in the detachment area.

The local moose population increased over the past decade, Burton said.

Highways 16 and 5 are the biggest trouble spots, and last year the department had the highways ministry put up moose warning signs around Sheho, he said.