Crying over roadkill

I had to chuckle a little at this letter to the Star Trib. Of course I don’t want to hit an animal with my car, but come on, isn’t this going a little overboard. Just imagine all the human road kill if people started swerving in the city to avoid racoons.

Strib letter

“Why is it so hard for people to avoid killing animals with their massive cars? When I see roadkill like I did tonight, I get so irate that I finally had to write. Spring is around the corner, and that is the worst time of the year for me dealing with seeing roadkill. It breaks my heart.

On my way home, on Hadley Ave. in Oakdale, was fresh raccoon roadkill. Right in the middle of the road (not off to the side), and this raccoon was HUGE, the size of a large dog. I understand that sometimes squirrels [or] bunnies dart out and can be harder to avoid (although I have never ever killed anything because I am attentive), although even that is arguable. But a raccoon? They are NOT fast moving animals. I once had to rescue a baby raccoon because someone had hit his mom and his sibling. He was standing by their bodies, huddled against the curb. Someone had hit this family at a four-way STOP! The cars were STOPPING, in broad daylight, and they still hit the raccoons!! I have seen people VERY impatient with geese crossing, and hitting geese is another inexcusable act since they WALK across the road. It’s also illegal to purposely hit them.

Is this another side-effect of people multi-tasking and not paying attention? Although unavoidable situations can happen, in my opinion 90% of the roadkill I see was probably avoidable if the person cared and/or was paying attention. With urban sprawl, don’t we owe this to the other creatures with which we inhabit the earth?

I would ask people to PAY ATTENTION, especially at night, and look for animals crossing the road. They are simply trying to live their lives. Remember, this is their world too. That animal you hit might have a nest and babies somewhere, so you might be causing the suffering of many, as the babies will die of starvation.”

Seriously, my wife has a little bit of this disorder, but not that extreme. By all means, put your car in the ditch or into oncoming traffic before hitting a squirrel or rabbitt.

Yeah – I agree – this is a little “overkill”. No one should want to hit an animal on purpose but sometimes it can’t be avoided. Control of your vehicle and safety must come first.

Wait! This raccoon was the size of a LARGE dog? Now that is a BIG Raccoon. Heck if I wouldn’t have hit it I would have shot it, and had that bad boy mounted! Is this the same girl that wrote about why turkey wasn’t on her table at Thanksgiving? This has to be a joke right?

This made me laugh and think of an old story from my learning to drive time when I was 16. Teaching my son now and I have told him too. Anyway many many years ago when I was doing behind the wheel training (provided by the public school system in WI) and most of the instructors were school teachers doing this as a summer job. We were doing passing drills with another car on a rural road that was fairly straight for many miles. Our instructor from a rural school told us without any doubt that our vehicle would not swerve, turn,brake or in any way try to avoid any animal in the road smaller than a pig for any reason. Human lives were way more important than any animal. Besides the scavengers have to eat too. Just some wisdom from my past.

You mean your not suppose to swerve to hit coons, coyotes, rabbits and cats??

My neighbor ran off the road into a cornfield in August, just to miss a stupid dog(that stands on the road alot). He has been on workmans comp since the accident and is now nearing the point of getting back surgery. Sorry, but the dog dies if I’m at the wheel.

Too Funny! I live right off Hadley Ave! Not much road kill at all along that road to speak of.

This lady needs to stop by my garage and see my collection of animals after the gun season.

I thought the point scale went something like this

• Moose 15 points
• Deer 10 points (both would be higher, but since you can possibly get a few meals out of the kill points are deducted)
• Waterfowl 9 points (they do more damage than you would think.)
• Rabbit 8 points (those things are fast good job)
• Coyote 7 points
• Annoying dog (always in your way, that your nieghbor refuses to train) 5
add 20 points if you hit the owner who can’t properly control their dog
• Raccoon 3 points
• squirels 2 points
• Non waterfowl bird 1 point
• Cat 1 points ( they can’t be used in a field and they are a dime a dozen)
• Hunting dog -10 points (I know it’s never intentional but it was a hunting dog after all)

This is the score card I grew up with.

Don’t hit my dog if it is avoidable within reason! Dogs and rodents are a little different I’d say. As far as this tree huggin lady goes, do just that and keep huggin trees they need love to. lol

You guys keep joking about hitting hunting dogs, obviously you have never owned or worked with a worthy dog or just lack the ability to train and know the value of a companion like a good dog. Your freezer probaly reflects this. Good huntin

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You guys keep joking about hitting hunting dogs, obviously you have never owned or worked with a worthy dog or just lack the ability to train and know the value of a companion like a good dog. Your freezer probaly reflects this. Good huntin

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I said Not to do it. Sorry I didn’t mean to offend you I was only kidding, and I have hunted with many a good dogs (and not so good dog) Heck half the fun of hunting is the Dogs. In fact on the way home from a hunting trip there was a dog that had gotten separated from it’s owner. We stopped, and spent an hour getting the dog, and hooking it back up with it’s owner. If anything ever happened to my dog I would be lost, but it was a joke. Much like the article that started this all. Sorry!

Seriously?? What/how can you equate the beef in my freezer to road kill?? I paid good money for that beef.

I would never intentionally run over any dog/cat. I figure they are somebodies pet. However, given the choice, hit the dog or the ditch. Also assuming there is no other course of action. Sorry the dog loses every time!! I know, it’s not the dog’s fault for being poorly trained. It’s also not my fault I don’t want to take my chances of rolling or worse. It’s a darn dog and anyone who values their pet more than themselves is dilusional in my book.

In case you are wondering, this is the first time in my life I haven’t had a dog for this long(3 yrs). I’ve had labs and golden retrievers since I was a pup myself. Wouldn’t matter if it was my dog on the road, it would be the same choice.

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I thought the point scale went something like this

• Moose 15 points
• Deer 10 points (both would be higher, but since you can possibly get a few meals out of the kill points are deducted)
• Waterfowl 9 points (they do more damage than you would think.)
• Rabbit 8 points (those things are fast good job)
• Coyote 7 points
• Annoying dog (always in your way, that your nieghbor refuses to train) 5
add 20 points if you hit the owner who can’t properly control their dog
• Raccoon 3 points
• squirels 2 points
• Non waterfowl bird 1 point
• Cat 1 points ( they can’t be used in a field and they are a dime a dozen)
• Hunting dog -10 points (I know it’s never intentional but it was a hunting dog after all)

This is the score card I grew up with.

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Non-waterfowl bird 1 point
Need to upgrade that alittle….
I have seen a grouse do some serious damage. I have also seen what a turkey will do, lets just say that if they hadn’t totaled the car it would have made a great convertible

If there is something in the road and its either hit the animal or possible total my car and or get hurt, im sorry but the deer/coon, or someones beloved pet is going to get squished. i will do all means to try and stop or not hit it but my life is more important then someones pet. Yes it hurts to lose a pet but you can always buy a new hunting, its kinda hard to bring back a brother/relative/ etc

Slider your right! I forgot about Grouse, Turkey, and Pheasants. All are well over 1 point is 4 fair? I was thinking more along the line or cardinal, robin, those type. Good catch.

Yeah i often veer out of my way to drill a full grown raccoon. And the 2 deer i’ve hit with vehicles? Yeah i didnt care about smacking my car, i didnt swerve on purpose, i wanted to drill those 2 deer and smash my front end. Tell this person to go drive Highway 52 from the cities to Rochester or go drive I35 south of the metro and drive just the speed limit and pay full attention. I dont care, if your going 70 mph there just isn’t much you can do at times if a deer or a raccoon the size of a large dog runs out. Which reminds me, i hope i never see a raccoon the size of a full grown yellow lab, thats a bit scary. Whats even more scary is if the person writing this letter actually believes this raccoon was the size of a large dog. My guess is that if this person would have blown about a .2 at the time she saw this raccoon. I hope this person didnt attach his/her name to the article because they’ve had to lose all credibility with everyone they know. Then again, maybe their friends are part of the gang we all know as PETA and are involved in trying to get the state of Maryland to use deer birth control to control the deer population instead of hunting.

I’ve been searching for some sarcasm behind this response to the article… but have yet to find it. Hopefully this guy never tries to spark up a conversation with me :

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Wade says:

January 9th, 2008 at 8:22 am

I agree with Amy, the “massive” suvs are most likely the source of this senseless slaughter. You never see a Prius owner talking foolishly on their cell phones while driving. I have seen high schools kids spitting out thier window at a squirrel that was just minding its own business. First it will be spitting at animals and next they will be squishing innocent turtles on their way to the gas station.

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True that.

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First it will be spitting at animals and next they will be squishing innocent turtles on their way to the gas station.

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Why would a turtle be going to the gas station?

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First it will be spitting at animals and next they will be squishing innocent turtles on their way to the gas station.

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Why would a turtle be going to the gas station?

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First it will be spitting at animals and next they will be squishing innocent turtles on their way to the gas station.

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Why would a turtle be going to the gas station?

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First it will be spitting at animals and next they will be squishing innocent turtles on their way to the gas station.

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Why would a turtle be going to the gas station?

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ALMOST SPIT POP ALL OVER WITH THAT ONE.

you mean whne you see deer on the side of the road your not suppose to hit the gas and hope they cross?????? and me and the wife were driving home the other night and a coon about the size of a small dog ran across the road thought it was a short coyote for a minute till i saw the tail with stripes on it i mean this thing was huge but the wife swore it was a dog

speaking of hiting a hunting dog someone hit ours and we had to lay him to rest a few months back the people didn’t even stop and call animal control to let them know or atleast i asume since it was the middle of the night and we had already called animal control got the call from them when we were hanging deer stands

Wow, Deja Vu.

I think this may be a Peta letter that is being recycled. The reason I say this is because I am pretty sure that I read the same story in the LaCrosse tribune around a year ago. I could be mistaken though, but I am pretty sure it was the same with just a different location of the kill. Anyone from the LaCrosse area remember reading about this?

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I have seen people VERY impatient with geese crossing, and hitting geese is another inexcusable act since they WALK across the road. It’s also illegal to purposely hit them.

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One of my biggest pet peeves is people that stop for geese to cross the road in Rochester at Silver lake, I have seen fender benders more than once due to cars stopping for geese but I have never seen a goose hit by a car. I am sure that some have been hit but I am willing to bet not very many, they are not stupid birds. When there is no traffic to stop me I can drive through silver lake DR at 30 MPH and the geese do get out of the way every time. I would go as far to say that it would be difficult to hit one even if you were trying to hit one.