Motorist versus deer
It was motorist versus deer just before six this morning on Ivy Road just west of Oronogo.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol says 21-year-old Braden Ansley of Webb City was westbound when he swerved to miss a deer in the roadway.
His car went off the road, overturned and hit a fence.
Ansley, who was not wearing a safety device according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol accident report, was ejected from the car.
He was taken by private vehicle to Mercy Hospital in Joplin suffering only from moderate injuries.
The number of whitetail deer, the most common deer involved in deer-vehicle collisions, has grown significantly since the turn of the 20th century.
Currently, it is estimated that 20 to 30 million deer populate North America.
The actual number of animals killed in deer-vehicle collisions is not known due to the lack of a reliable database for such information.