Road kill depresses me.

[undeterred]

100 miles a day of interstate highway, and its one dead animal after another. Usually a badger, sometimes a deer, once in a while a dog. I just hate seeing it all the time.

[Deja Q]

1. I'll get the oven if you bring the spatula...

:9

[devilgrrl]

2. I know, it's bugs me too.

:-(

[LeftyMom]

3. Me too

I'm seeing a lot of raccoons and opossums on the side of the road lately, but it's always the dogs and cats that bother me most because I fear that there's a family somewhere hoping they'll come home and I can never decide if it would be worse to find them or not to.

[The2ndWheel]

5. What, no love for

the family of the raccoon or opossum?

[LeftyMom]

6. Well of course, but I can't really empathize with what a baby racoon feels

(at least not so easily) and any young opossums would be in the pouch and thus presumably expire with thier mother. But yeah, I worry that maybe there are orphaned babies out there as well, especially this time of year.

[undeterred]

4. I live in the "Badger" State but I've never seen a live badger

unless you count Bucky.

[MnFats]

21. I saw one in the 3 1/2 years i lived over there...

....on the road from Merrill to Tomahawk...the scenic route along the river.
it was tearing the living shit out of a fallen tree. Apparently there was someting good to eat in there. I slowed to a stop. It casually hissed at me and went back to its task.

[NewWaveChick1981]

7. Road kill always makes me so sad.

I mean, this poor little animal was just trying to cross the road to get to its food, or babies, or ... :( I hit a rabbit one night a long time ago---it was late, and the rabbit darted underneath my wheels without warning. :( I cried and cried and was inconsolable for days. I guess I'm just really sensitive about animals.

[undeterred]

9. I hit a rabbit during a snowstorm

first animal I've ever hit. I can't imagine how bad it feels to hit a pet, or god forbid, a person. I wish there was some way to keep the animals away from the highway.

[NewWaveChick1981]

25. My thoughts exactly. I wish I could somehow keep them off the road.

I have only hit the rabbit I mentioned, and I think I would lose it completely if I hit a pet or a child.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

8. And yet, while depressing, it's helpful to my friends the vultures

[undeterred]

11. Yeah, I suppose it looks as good to them as the restaurant signs do to

weary human travelers.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

18. A number of years ago, I read a story about a sect of Hindus

who feed the corpses of their dead to vultures. It seems that the vulture population has diminished severely; and the Hindi are in need of new burial/cremation practices as unconsumed bodies can pose a health hazard, not to mention a smelly ordeal.

[undeterred]

23. I guess thats ecologically correct

all though it would change the way I look at vultures.

[Call Me Wesley]

26. It is still practized in Tibet:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/theme/fatal_attractions/fatal_sky.htm

Wood is rare, so burning the corpses would be a tremendous waste of wood, and the ground is often not suitable for burial.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

27. Thanks for the link!

Seems like a good way to give back to the earth...

While I find the prospect a wild animal attack, while alive, less than appealing, I really wouldn't object to allowing my corpse to sustain other creatures.

[greendog]

12. A bright side to everything!

Around here, Road Kill feeds Bald Eagles, Golden Eagles, Ravens, and Magpies.

[undeterred]

13. and Golden Retrievers who just like the mess

I know a lot of dogs love to roll in dead animal.

[Haole Girl]

24. Really?

I don't have a dog, so this sounds strange to me. Really?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

17. Nature's clean-up crews

Let nothing be wasted...
I love 'em all!:loveya:

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

29. Do you have a lot of Republican friends?

:shrug:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

30. While many rethugs exhibit characteristics similar to vultures

they lack the integrity of the species. ;-)

[Jara sang]

10. "Buzzards gotta eat, worms too..."

[chaska]

14. I drive about 500 miles a day....

I'm an over the road truck driver guy (with a BA in English ... my ego needs to mention). I drive the western states. Out here it's pretty much all coyotes and skunks (woo boy, that ain't a party!). I do see the occasional deer, even saw an elk recently ... dead, of course.

Yeah, pretty grizzly.

[Swede]

15. Get a deer whistle attached to your car.

Supposedly they ward them off,so I've heard. If you hit a deer you can butcher it and take the meat,at least up here in Canada you can.

[tuvor]

16. We can smack into a deer and then butcher it? That's just weird.

Just thinking of obstacles to butchering after crashing: Not knowing how to butcher a deer, severe shakes even if you do, finding an appropriate butcher's knife handy, dealing with the authorities, finding something appropriate to cart it all away in...

[MnFats]

22. same is true in Mn.

I smacked a suicidal deer several years ago. State Patrol came to take a report as there was substantial damage. I could not take the deer. some stranger came along, asked if he could have it and I said sure....better than letting it go to waste.

[Bruden]

19. You'll see just as bad hiking in the woods.

[bumblebee1]

20. I hit a deer on the way home from work one night.

I was on top of him before I even knew what it was. The only part I saw was from the mid-section to the back end. I didn't see a head or a tail. The deer ran off before I could see if it was alright. I bawled my eyes out. The event got me very upset. I couldn't tell if it was a deer or a dog. When the local police came to investigate, the officer told me it was a deer. She pointed out the hair that was still on the bumper.

[noonwitch]

28. In Detroit, it's dogs and cats along with the squirrels and possums

Possums are ugly dead or alive. I hate them. If it was legal in my area, I'd shoot them with bb guns, because it's more humane than what the pit bulls next door do to them.

But I hate seeing dead dogs and cats on the side of the road. I have a dog and a cat, and it makes me extra careful to make sure they don't get out of the house unsecured.

[bluethruandthru]

31. One of the saddest things I ever saw

was a beautiful fox sitting by the side of the road next to the dead body of another fox. The live fox just seemed to be staring straight ahead with the saddest look on his/her face. I imagine it was the mate.