A mother bear and her cubs make a dangerous journey across Interstate 40. Susan Detwiler photo Growing up in eastern Kentucky, Frances Figart loved any chance to glimpse the diverse wildlife species roaming those Appalachian foothills — except when the sightings occurred after the creatures had become roadkill, something that occurred all too frequently. She felt their deaths keenly. “I can remember when I was a young driver running over a snake once, and I was so upset by that one individual death that I just turned around and went home and didn’t go to my job,” she said. “I called in sick and I just really took it personally.”