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Nicole Obee, and Sibylla Helms, Assistant Wildlife Biologists in Kootenay National Park said, it looked like vandals with spray paint had hit a number of parked vehicles in Radium Hot Springs, British Columbia. They later caught the "vandals" in action. The mottled "paint jobs" on parked vehicles were from bighorn sheep licking salt off cars. Sheep like salt and seek it out wherever they can. Often wandering onto highways to lick anti-icing road salts. They have been observed licking salt blocks left for horses at Parks Canada's Ya Ha Tinda Ranch, and there was even a report of a sweaty cyclist in Jasper National Park being "mobbed" by a band of bighorn sheep licking salt off his legs. This salt craving can result in sheep being killed by vehicles. So a number of different agencies are looking at ways to reduce wildlife highway mortality. Alberta has tried adding lithium chloride to its road salt mix to discourage caribou from licking salt off highway traffic lanes. Lithium chloride makes the animals nauseous and it is hoped that the caribou will associate their upset stomachs with road salts and stay off the highway. Local Biologist Nancy Newhouse is experimenting with salt and pepper. Her preliminary testing found an 18 to 1 ratio of salt to cayenne pepper worked to discourage salt licking by domestic sheep. The next step will be to determine if bighorn sheep react the same way.