BS: the roadkill thread

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: Mrrzy
Date: 30 Jul 22 - 11:58 AM

Mmmm. Comfort food.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: keberoxu
Date: 28 Jul 22 - 01:28 PM

Another very young raccoon. More beige than black, it was so young.
Even the black rings were thin and faint. Poor little sausage, as they say in England.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: Senoufou
Date: 14 Jul 22 - 03:16 AM

I've noticed several dead little muntjac deer, badgers and foxes at the side of the road between my village and Fakenham. My husband used to be very puzzled by these dead animals, because in Africa, they'd have been grabbed immediately, skinned and put in the pot for dinner!

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: keberoxu
Date: 13 Jul 22 - 04:46 PM

Besides the usual middle-of-the-road skunk
( a youngster, more white stripe than black fur on its back),

I spotted my first killed PORCUPINE.
Hard to mistake that bristly thing for anything else.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: keberoxu
Date: 25 Oct 20 - 05:00 PM

Fox! On the shoulder of the freeway, this one.
A dead fox on a highway is something I'm used to
seeing on the shoulder, not out in a lane somewhere
(something moved the fox? or it landed over there on impact?)

Rarely do I see an older fox dead on/near a highway.
When I do see an old brown fox, it is alive
and miles from any dangerous high-speed traffic.
The old brown foxes know better.

No, this one had fur that was partly red and partly peachy.
Prominent black ears. Forget about the tail
(the car was moving pretty fast, in my defense).
Full-sized fox, though;
it is in the spring when dead kit foxes get run over.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: Jack Campin
Date: 14 Aug 20 - 02:43 PM

According to a campaigning charity that is trying to do something about it, 230,000 cats are killed by car drivers every year in the UK.

Lots more birds around this summer. Same number of cats, a lot less cars on the road. Habitat degradation with noise and pollutants is a lot more destructive than predation.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: keberoxu
Date: 14 Aug 20 - 12:35 PM

An opossum, today, 'wormtail' and all.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: keberoxu
Date: 19 Jul 20 - 08:33 PM

Raccoon, today:
so young that its fur was mostly a pale brown color,
which I'm not used to,
and its tail was not very large or long.
A STOUT little thing, though, by the side of the road,
and anything but flattened -- round and plump, it was.
Out on its back with its legs splayed out at each corner.
Quite a sight, actually.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: Mossback
Date: 13 Mar 20 - 06:58 PM

Possum?

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: keberoxu
Date: 13 Mar 20 - 03:17 PM

Spring is on the way, the weather is warming above freezing,
and it's seasonal roadkill time!!

Don't know what that was in the middle of the road.
Too big for a cat,
MUCH too big for a squirrel,
too small for a dog,
too gray to be a skunk.
Fat furry gray thing.
Freshly run over and VERY dead
but I'll never know what it used to be.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: Mossback
Date: 02 Jan 20 - 07:01 PM

We belled our cats and let them out. Any bird gets caught by a belled cat does not get my sympathy.

Preposterous. "Belling" a cat does nothing whatsoever to protect other wildlife from them.

Some folks'll believe anything, no matter how ridiculous, if it makes them feel better about what they've done.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: Mrrzy
Date: 02 Jan 20 - 05:18 PM

I am still trying to get my head around Enclosure and Cat.

We belled our cats and let them out. Any bird gets caught by a belled cat does not get my sympathy.

They (the cats) lived long healthy lives. Sure, they eventually died.

And I do believe the data that show they might have lived longer.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 30 Dec 19 - 05:48 PM

There was what, from a distance, appeared to be yet another dead skunk in the middle of the road today.

It turned out to be a black and white tennis shoe instead.

It may well have stunk to high heaven, but I didn't get close enough to find out.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: Mossback
Date: 27 Dec 19 - 01:58 PM

You don't care if your cat dies, you let them outside. Ferals, I get it, but pets, I don't.

If you don't care about small furry creatures (like the squirrel, above) or birds (in addition to not giving a crap about the cats in question) by all means DO let them outside.

As for "feral" -a.k.a.Stray- cats, they're an invasive species that causes a great deal of harm to small critters & also carry a cornucopia of diseases (including rabies) transmissible to other critters & humans. They should be extirpated.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 26 Dec 19 - 11:48 PM

Dead skunk in the middle of the road while driving to town on Christmas Eve.

Did NOT stink to high heaven.

I guess its scent gland didn't get ruptured in the fatal vehicular encounter.

Sang the song later that night anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: keberoxu
Date: 26 Dec 19 - 07:52 PM

Lovely fluffy gray squirrel. Not the least bit squashed,
must have broken his wee neck or something.
I didn't squash him either --
I drove with my wheels well to either side, over him, and onward.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: Jeri
Date: 26 Sep 19 - 09:46 PM

I don't know what Jack was getting at back in June, but "rednecks" would likely be the ones saying cats should run free and unfettered..., AND keep their balls and "cat up" and take their chances with the cars, crazy people, dogs, and other predators. You don't care if your cat dies, you let them outside. Ferals, I get it, but pets, I don't.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Sep 19 - 09:25 PM

Inaccurate use of the term "redneck," Jack, if you're going for an American usage. But he's right. Keep your cats in the house if you want them to have a long life. Build an enclosure if you want them to go outside (look for directions from Deckman - Bob Nelson. He got tired of cats killed in the street.) Cats are one of the worst predators on songbirds and small reptiles (they're welcome to the rodents.)

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: robomatic
Date: 26 Sep 19 - 01:13 AM

On the Roads Until They Weren't

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: keberoxu
Date: 25 Sep 19 - 04:30 PM

One raccoon and one groundhog, both well-nourished,
on the same highway.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: keberoxu
Date: 25 Aug 19 - 05:13 PM

I believe that I just drove past
my first dead wild turkey off on the shoulder of the road.
I have seen many a live and ambling-along wild turkey
stopping road traffic,
usually in "rafters" of half-a-dozen.

Somebody in an automobile
did not deign to stop the car for this one.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: keberoxu
Date: 18 Aug 19 - 03:08 PM

I have seen many roadways adorned with dead skunks,
and Lord willing, I will see more before it's all over.

This one, however, is the flattest ever.
There is absolutely nothing left except the pelt.

What is so striking about it
is the pristine vividness of the white and black fur on the pelt.
It looks like a wonky chessboard. It's the darndest thing ever.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 26 Jul 19 - 04:10 PM

As a long-time rural driver with twenty miles of prime white-tail habitat between my home and the nearest town, the best piece of advice I can offer city folks who find themselves driving in deer country is this:

Deer often travel in herds and family groups. When one deer makes it safely across the road in front of you, it's not a signal to speed up and be on your merry way. It's a signal to slow down and proceed extra cautiously because there's a good chance more deer are going to be following it.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: keberoxu
Date: 26 Jul 19 - 02:04 PM

The joke about the swelled-up possum
puts me in mind of
the celebrated hedgehog stew.

I live where there are no hedgehogs.
However
the Roma, pejoratively called Gypsies,
are legendary for
their prowess in making a feast out of hedgehogs.

One recipe that someone dictated,
for somebody else to write down,
involved a pump for bicycle tires.
Doesn't go INTO the stew, mark you,
but is necessary for prepping the little hedgehog,
the better to lose both hide and quills.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: EBarnacle
Date: 25 Jul 19 - 04:15 PM

Deer strikes are common in this area, partly because the Bambi lovers give local hunters a hard time.

a side note: Kosher means clean but tref literally means torn [also applying to roadkill], which why there are relatively few Jewish hunters.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: Charmion
Date: 25 Jul 19 - 09:56 AM

The roadkill of Perth County come in four dominant species: squashed squirrel, ex-skunk, wrecked raccoon, and putrid porcupine. I also occasionally see the tumbled remains of a dog-like creature who was probably once a coyote.

It always saddens me to see the dead skunks and porcupines, whose natural defences are so effective in the woods and absolutely no use at all once they emerge from the tree line. As for the raccoons, I believe that those who die on the road are probably doing their gene pool a favour. A creature capable of cracking the latched lid of compost bin specifically designed to keep him out should be smart enough to avoid motor vehicles.

Our brushy areas harbour plenty of deer, but I've never seen one in the ditch hereabouts. Perhaps our two-lane blacktop county roads keep the drivers sufficiently awake and aware to avoid them.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: Mrrzy
Date: 24 Jul 19 - 10:28 PM

Stilly, one of my sisters taught me that, but after studying a lot of perception, I found it actually makes psychological sense. Unlike the behavior of the human drivers, ha ha!

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: Janie
Date: 23 Jul 19 - 01:52 AM

We used to stop and inspect road kill groundhogs. If they were large enough - and not too ripe - would take them home and skin them. Their thin, tough hides make fine small drumheads.

Hillbilly joke that only us hillbillies can tell - will slap you silly for making it if you ain't a hillbilly. "Look, Paw, Sunday dinner! that possum's swelled up just right."

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: EBarnacle
Date: 22 Jul 19 - 11:38 PM

Did a save today. Saw a turtle in the middle of my lane, pulled over, put it where it was going and left.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: keberoxu
Date: 21 Jul 19 - 09:37 PM

Which reminds me of the book
"Flattened Fauna,"
a field guide to North American roadkill
(by a biology lecturer at 'high school' level I think),

and its page on "Road Toads"
which are common in the southeastern United States.

"One foreleg is extended
as though the toad were waving good-bye ... "

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 21 Jul 19 - 06:08 AM

I've heard tell that squashing cane toads on the road is recommended in Australia.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: keberoxu
Date: 20 Jul 19 - 09:17 PM

The flattest groundhog I've ever seen.

Thick, mind you, but flat. Like a furry little brick.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: robomatic
Date: 10 Jun 19 - 04:25 PM

that's the goriest blank verse I've ever read. . .

Well done, Keb!

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: keberoxu
Date: 10 Jun 19 - 12:18 PM

Ever seen roadkill that, at first sight,
you did not have a clue what it is / used-to-be ?

Such was my first roadkill armadillo.

Had it jumped straight up in the air, as described
in an earlier post to this thread? who knows?

In any case, it was a very fresh kill.
Having been crushed entirely,
the remains were literally covered in bright-colored gore,
which made it that much more difficult to make out what was there.

But the real double-take-maker
was that business that looked like a bowl that had broken apart
into individual ribs which stuck out at all angles.


Miles and miles later down the same road,
in full sunlight with no other traffic, between towns in the fields,
leisurely enough that I could glance at what was moving about near the road,
I spotted motion in a shallow ditch,
looked at the little armored beastie creeping about,
and identified the live unharmed armadillo with
"Oh, THAT's what that was back there on the road..."

And during all those minutes / miles in between,
I was driving along,
running down a list in my mind,
eliminating all the possibilities of
roadkill for that gory mess I had driven around:

it wasn't a possum,
it wasn't a raccoon,
it wasn't a skunk,
it wasn't a groundhog,
it wasn't . . .

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: robomatic
Date: 09 Jun 19 - 09:21 PM

I remember the armadillos in the road from a motorcycle visit to Florida. It was quite a sight first time.
I saw a cat get splattered once. I was in the American west on a motorcycle at night. The cat was waiting for a chance to cross and rushed in after the vehicle two places ahead of me had passed, but it hadn't expected the close following vehicle just ahead of me. It was a sickening sight but the driving situation did not allow for stopping at that place and time.
I live on a long straight run in a suburb just out of a full urb. Most people in my immediate vicinity own animals and are responsible. I saw a couple of loose dogs last week and was able to get the phone number off the dog's talk and place a quick call to the owner. Who turned out to be someone I used to work with. H shot over in his pickup got his dog in the back of it and we had a good yarn. Turned out he'd been installing a new electric fence and his pooch, a fine looking lab, chose for a rare bout of freedom.
There are some feral animals out there but they are few, because we also have bears, wolves, coyotes, foxes, and it turns out there is also urban trapping, quite legal if conforming to the city ordinances.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: Joe_F
Date: 09 Jun 19 - 08:29 PM

Bee-dubya: IIRC a U.S. president from Texas offered the following political advice: There's nothing in the middle of the road but yellow lines and dead armadillos.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: Jack Campin
Date: 09 Jun 19 - 06:43 PM

Oh look, an Anerican redneck.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: Mossback
Date: 09 Jun 19 - 06:26 PM

One might opine that you might have learned, after several such occurrences, to keep your cats indoors where they belong?

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: Jack Campin
Date: 09 Jun 19 - 02:45 PM

We moved here 20 years ago with our 5 cats. The word got around. A few weeks after we arrived there was a knock on the door, a cat had just been hit by a car, was it one of ours? It wasn't. I got to him in time to stroke his head as he died. The driver had been going far over the speed limit and the cat had been hurled far into the air. Driver never stopped, natch. Never identified.

About ten years later we had a little kitten, born in our house, who we'd had to get fixed up after she broke her hip (not cheap). Found her dead outside our house with her head crushed and her eyeballs hanging out. I think this was because she was sitting underneath a neighbour's car wheel and he started off too fast for her to move, but I never found out. Nobody admitted to it.

Shortly after that we came home from holiday to find that our little Persian cat Splodge had been picked up by the council's refuse collectors after a neighbour reported him lying dead in the gutter a block away. Never found who did that either.

The part of the village we're in is a big cul de sac. You can't be on your way to anywhere in a hurry if you're driving near us. Doesn't stop the macho shits from gunning their engines and treating the place like a race track. The one thing that slows them down is potholes. I fuckin love potholes. Hopefully I'll get to laugh and somebody with a smashed axle someday.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: keberoxu
Date: 08 Jun 19 - 12:39 PM

The roads I drive on routinely,
it's groundhogs / woodchucks, of late. Poor stout fellows.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: vectis
Date: 06 Jun 19 - 08:48 PM

Here in New Zealand the possums, imported from Australia for their fur, are always getting run over by cars. We call them "New Zealand's little speed bumps".

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 06 Jun 19 - 06:09 AM

Here in the southeastern US, the industry standard for roadkill is the armadillo. An armadillo's response to a frightening situation is to try to get out of the way by jumping straight up in the air. That does not work very well when the frightening situation in question is being directly under a moving automobile. If you can avoid hitting an armadillo with your wheels, the play's not over. The armadillo will simply move on to the next act: committing suicide on the undercarriage of your car. That's why the carcasses of so many roadkilled armadillos appear to be undamaged and completely intact... until the buzzards get hold of them the next morning.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: BobL
Date: 06 Jun 19 - 02:29 AM

It's not summer until I've seen the first squashed hedgehog...

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: keberoxu
Date: 05 Jun 19 - 02:39 PM

Mrrzy, that tip about live squirrels watching an oncoming car
is new to me, and it fits well
with the little that I have observed in my years of driving.
I'm going to remember that one.

Another groundhog with stiff little legs sticking straight out …

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: keberoxu
Date: 03 Jun 19 - 03:15 PM

I never meant to run over the fruitbats.
But run over them, I did.

It was at the national wildlife refuge called , I think,
Bosque del Apache,
south of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Instead of the traditional dawn visit,
I went one day at dusk.
And of course the fruitbats were just waking up, and hungry.
There was my auto kicking up dust on
the access road through the refuge, and
the fruitbats were not ON the road but
in front of my car, hovering above the road.

In order to leave the refuge/preserve,
one has to take the same road out
that one came in.
So I duly retraced my 'steps'
and drove my auto in the other direction
down the same stretch of road.

And there they were.
No longer hovering above the road,
but on the road, unmoving.
And their membraned bat-wings
stuck up and out every which way, into the air,
like so many shredded inside-out umbrellas.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: keberoxu
Date: 21 May 19 - 07:40 PM

I am guessing, Sandra, JennieG,
and others in Oz,

that quokkas are not roadkill
because the mainland quokkas
have been killed off pretty much
and
there are only island quokkas now ... right?
They look small enough
for an auto to flatten them.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 May 19 - 12:17 AM

Mrrzy, since you made another remark I left both posts, but I repaired your typo. That's interesting about the "back-and-forthness" thing that squirrels do. Do you happen to remember where you learned that? I'd love to see a documentary about how they figure out things like that.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: Mrrzy
Date: 20 May 19 - 07:58 PM

Get out- not get put. Oops.

I also learned there are 3 ages of roadkill: splat cats, fat cats and flat cats.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: Mrrzy
Date: 20 May 19 - 07:55 PM

Squirrels and people have a deal. I have never killed a squirrel since I found out about it *and* started sticking to it.

People: just keep your speed constant. Really- no matter what the squirrel is doing.

Squirrels: run back and forth like crazy and, if the car's speed has been constant, get out of the way at the last minute.

Apparently the forthing and backing is to give thair brains enough info on your velocity to get out of your way.

Subject: RE: BS: the roadkill thread
From: keberoxu
Date: 20 May 19 - 06:28 PM

I, too, drove past someone's pet cat heaped against the curb
of a residential neighborhood, obviously killed.
A little tortoiseshell pussycat. Sigh.