A call has been made for new road signs to protect endangered red squirrels.
The Red Squirrel Survival Trust (RSST) has petitioned the Department of Transport to consider erecting official warning signs in areas where the animals are at risk of being killed by vehicles.
On the Isle of Wight, only red squirrels are found, making them especially important to the area.
Vanessa Fawcett, director of operations at the RSST, said: "Definitive figures are not available but members of our UK volunteer network are increasingly concerned by the rising number of road fatalities, particularly during the breeding season."
The RSST believes that standardised signs would be more effective than the homemade versions currently put up by members of the public.
Red squirrels, once numbering more than three million in the UK before the arrival of grey squirrels in the mid-1800s, now have a population of around 287,000.
They are classified as 'near threatened' in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, but remain locally common in Scotland, and of course are found widely on the Isle of Wight.
Vanessa said the rising number of road kills threatens the survival of the native reds.
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