Roadkill: It's what's for dinner in Illinois

[bijou]

My husband and I are the type of people who would swerve into oncoming traffic to avoid hitting a mouse as it sprinted for safety across the road. We have both annoyed other drivers as we blocked the rural highways to help turtles do the same, knowing they would be too slow to make it on their own. On the rare occasions that we've hurt an animal while driving, even my daughter has joined the cause and all three of us have sat in the car, weeping for the skunk or rabbit or raccoon that we have more than likely killed.
 
I can't help but wonder: what happens to all the carcasses that litter our roads?
 
Roadkill is often the butt of some seriously bad jokes — most of them including rednecks and dinner. One of my employees frequently shares the story of the time he hit a deer and was waiting for his family to come help him. Strangers stopped, not to ask if he was OK, but to see if he was going to keep the animal, or if they could take it. A bit creepy, and when he recounts his experience, you can usually hear banjos playing in the background. At that time it was also illegal.
 
But not anymore. In May 2011, the Illinois Senate passed a bill allowing permit-bearing citizens to scoop up roadkill for their own personal use (skinning, rendering, eating, etc.) as long as the beasts are fur-bearing mammals and are in season. Discussion around the topic pointed to the economy and how this will have a positive effect on everyone's wallet: free food/materials for those who need it, and time/budgetary savings for the state. ...

http://www.mnn.com/local-reports/illinois/local-blog/roadkill-its-whats-for-dinner-in-illinois

[JohnnyReb]

It's summer time and 50+ years ago the sky would be full of circling buzzards. Then the government in it's infinite wisdom decided that all dead animals including roadkill had to be buried. For years there were no buzzards in the sky, then we started having a few deer in the area and sometimes one would die in the woods are somewhere I guess and we started having a buzzard are two in the sky again.

There were no protest and demands for the protection of the endangered species, turkey buzzard, though. I guess you are what you eat and DUmmies/liberals frown on people or things that eat roadkill. ...and buzzards knock government workers out of a job with health insurance and a future pension.

[Eupher]

This is a really wormy subject, bijou.

Could be quite rank, in fact.

All seriousness aside, I know a guy who works for the Missouri Department of Transportation. That's what he does -- drives around in one of those MODOT trucks, outfitted with reflective vests, rubber gloves, a shovel, and a suitable trash container and picks up road kill.

I'm pretty sure he doesn't eat any of it, though. He's too skinny.

[BlueStateSaint]

I used to work with a guy, when I worked for the NYS Dept. of Health, that used to eat roadkill.  I don't know how many times he did it; but he was a notorious penny-pincher, too.  As my lab supervisor said, "You can eat anything as long as you cook it long enough."

I never sampled any of his "delicacies."

[bijou]

This is a really wormy subject, bijou.

Could be quite rank, in fact.

All seriousness aside, I know a guy who works for the Missouri Department of Transportation. That's what he does -- drives around in one of those MODOT trucks, outfitted with reflective vests, rubber gloves, a shovel, and a suitable trash container and picks up road kill.

I'm pretty sure he doesn't eat any of it, though. He's too skinny.

For once we disagree, in fact I think you're flat out wrong.

[longview]

The state of Colorado has had a law like this for years.  If you come across a fresh deer, elk, or antelope (like you see it get hit)you can call local law enforcement and they'll drop off a "certificate of road kill" to make it all legal.

A foster son brought me some elk after he moved there and gave me the certificate which I displayed every time I served that animal.  Got quite a kick out of it.

[Eupher]

For once we disagree, in fact I think you're flat out wrong.

That's a really gutsy thing to say, bijou. In fact, I got that deer-in-the-headlights look when I read it.

[bijou]

That's a really gutsy thing to say, bijou. In fact, I got that deer-in-the-headlights look when I read it.

Maybe I was a bit rash, maybe there is a vein of truth in what you said.

[Eupher]

Maybe I was a bit rash, maybe there is a vein of truth in what you said.

Please don't smear yourself. You're actually quite right given the amount of bumps in the road.

[Karin]

My first job in Maine after leaving Ohio:  A lady at work calls in to the office, reporting that she'd be late, she hit a deer.  I'd heard how dangerous an accident that can be.  So, when the lady got to work, I was all concerned.  "Are you OK, Shiela?  Did you get hurt?"  She was all smiles, I'd be traumatized.  "Oh, I'm fine.  I'm thrilled!"  Called her husband up, told him where it was, and told him to go get it, and get it into the freezer. 

I was shocked.