**FROM WILDLIFE PRESERVATION CANADA *** *

01 October 2025, Windsor ON – An Endangered Eastern Massasauga rattlesnake was found killed on Matchett Rd last Friday. A team studying reptile road mortality around the Ojibway Prairie Complex and Greater Park Ecosystem were shocked to find its freshly slaughtered carcass.

Massasaugas are in critical condition in Essex County, and are currently the focus of an intensive recovery effort led by Wildlife Preservation Canada. Each year for the last decade the governments of Ontario and Canada have jointly invested conservation dollars toward the recovery of endangered reptiles at Ojibway Prairie, with a focus on the Massasauga. For one of these animals to be killed on the road is simply devastating.

Much of the land along the deadly 2 km stretch of Matchett Rd. is already in public hands (City of Windsor, Ontario Parks, and Infrastructure Ontario). Funds and materials to install proper mitigation have been dedicated, and are available. All that remains is for land managers to give the “go ahead” to allow barrier fencing and under-road culverts to be installed.

The Massasauga that was killed recently on Matchett Rd. was reared in human care and then returned to Ojibway Prairie with a handful of others as part of recovery efforts for this dwindling population. His name was Gordo. His “great-grandparents” were rescued years ago from a housing development that saw some of last Massasauga habitat in the area become destroyed. Gordo was one of the few remaining representatives of the unique Ojibway genetic lineage, and was thus being returned to his ancestral lands. His legacy was unceremoniously cut short.

Massasaugas used to be much more widespread across southwestern Ontario’s Carolinian Zone, but after decades of habitat loss and intentional killing, the species can now only be found there in two very small populations: at Wainfleet Bog, in the Niagara region, and here at the Ojibway Prairie. Efforts to save the Massasaugas locally were initiated by staff of the Ojibway Nature Centre in the early 1990s.

This fall, over 80 reptiles representing 6 species have been found dead on local roads since monitoring began just last week – mostly on Malden and Matchett. By the end of October, it is estimated that at least 300 will be killed. Residents of Windsor and Essex County have been promised a National Urban Park at Ojibway Prairie, not a graveyard. We must insist that OUR park includes protections for wildlife from the daily threat of road mortality.

About Wildlife Preservation Canada

Established in 1985, Wildlife Preservation Canada is a national charity devoted to saving endangered animal species facing imminent extinction in Canada – species whose numbers in the wild are so low that habitat protection alone is not enough. It is currently providing expert hands-on care to reptile, amphibian, bird, and insect species in projects ranging from the St. Lawrence/Great Lakes region to Vancouver Island, making it the only organization in Canada to perform such work in multiple species recovery efforts across the country. For more information contact: admin@wildlifepreservation.ca; jchoquette@wildlifepreservation.ca