1 elk, 2 deer hit in morning crashes near Tri-Cities. It's mating season

Washington State Patrol troopers were called to three crashes with elk or deer in the Tri-Cities area Monday morning, an unusual number for one day, said Trooper Daniel Mosqueda. No people were injured, even in the one crash that involved an elk. Information about the animals was not immediately available. A pickup driving northwest in the Horn Rapids Area on Highway 240 , sometimes called the Hanford Highway, hit an elk about 6 a.m. Although it is not known if the driver was headed to work at the Hanford nuclear site , the highway has many commuting Hanford workers at the time of the crash and a large elk herd roams the nuclear reservation. The other collisions were between deer and vehicles at about 4:30 a.m. on Highway 395 near Connel l and at about 5:50 a.m. on eastbound Interstate 82 near the Badger Road exit in Kennewick . “We just want to remind our drivers, especially at dawn and dusk, (deer and elk) are very active,” Mosqueda said. “We want to make sure that people are aware that we share the road with more than just cars.” At Hanford, the 580-square-mile nuclear environmental cleanup site adjacent to Richland, about