COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — It's known as North America's fastest animal, reaching top speeds of 55-60 miles per hour. According to Colorado Parks and Wildlife's (CPW) District Manager Aaron Berscheid, the pronghorn will eventually "outrun" El Paso County's growth.
“We are encroaching on their habitat. We need habitat as well," Berscheid said. "The more responsible we can be about that is what I'll advocate for.”
Berscheid, who has a biology degree, said one good way to measure a pronghorn herd’s health is by buck-to-doe ratio.
Despite expansion into their fields, Berscheid says the herd you find in El Paso County is holding steady.
“Pronghorn play a numbers game. They try and give birth to at least twins each year," Berscheid said. “Concern is not super high.”
But for locals like Kyle Perry and Amanda Mize, they say they have already noticed fewer pronghorns, and the herd shifting east.
“We've been taking up a lot of their living space, pushing them back a lot more towards the Falcon area," Perry said, who grew up in eastern El Paso County.
“I do recall seeing a lot more several years ago, and it kind of seems that they're like confined to smaller and smaller fields," Mize said, who moved to eastern El Paso County three years ago with her family.
Berscheid said the pronghorn are not trapped, adding that if the herd feels uncomfortable in the eastern parts of El Paso County, it will move east.
“The only limiting factor for them along Woodman is the developments, and once that gets more developed, they're going to move further east or wherever they feel comfortable," he said.
CPW is not a regulatory agency, but Berscheid said developers he works with often think of ways to accommodate the local herd.
“Whether that be with fencing, whether it's with allowing open spaces and corridors for them to move through," he said. "But I'm not going to sugar coat it, it is getting to the point where they're going to move out of that area."
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