Road Kill: It's Fresh, It's Organic, It's Free

[kpete]

Road Kill: It's Fresh, It's Organic, It's Free

By Sandor Ellix Katz, Chelsea Green Publishing. Posted July 28, 2009.

Even some hardcore vegans have found solace in scavenging. Here's why.

How broke would you have to get to eat roadkill?

Don't freak out. This isn't a sensationalist necrophilic bizarre fetishized kind of thing. It's legit. Actually, depending on several factors, it can be perfectly safe (and entirely affordable) to eat meat that has been left by the side of a highway or county road.

In fact, there may be not much of a difference from a deer you hunt, and a deer you kill accidentally. Now, this may sound a bit extreme to you. But according to Sandor Katz, lifelong activist and food lover, roadkill has been a source of food for poor people since cars were invented. So, don't be classist. At least read more about it!

The following is an excerpt from The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America's Underground Food Movements by Sandor Ellix Katz. It has been adapted for the Web.

(sorry, but with a title like this, i just HAD to post, kp)
http://www.alternet.org/environment/141595/road_kill%3A_it%27s_fresh%2C_it%27s_organic%2C_it%27s_free/

[Butch350]

1. I only par-take of meat...

That has been freshly killed in a rat dropping infested, unclean, and uninspected for years, meat processing plant.

Period. (.)

[KansDem]

5. Now you've done it! You made me hungry!

Now I'll have to rush out at lunchtime for a mouth-watering hamburger from some fast-food place. I'll eat it while reading my copy of "The Jungle."

[paulsby]

2. we used to do this in massachusetts

i was a cop there, and when a person hit a deer with their car, we were dispatched. if the deer was injured, we killed it (a deer with a broken leg or otherwise severely injured. ). the person who hit the deer got first dibs. if they didn't want it, we had a list that we had people on call (mostly needy families) who has signed up with our local PD to be called in the event of a deer (or other game animal) being hit by a car.

thus, nothing was wasted.

i thought this was a great policy.

here in WA state, where i now work, that would be illegal. whether we dispatch the deer ourself upon collision, or the deer is already dead upon our arrival, it is generally ILLEGAL for anybody to recover the deer. we are supposed to remove it to the side of the road and advise state game, who will (theoretically) be out in a day or two to pick up the carcass. i tell people who hit the deer, that yes, it's illegal for them to recover it. then, i drive off to my next call. if they recover it, at least it goes for a good cause.

[Vickers]

3. I saw a dead deer on the side of the road up in Georgia a couple

of weeks ago.

It did cross my mind to wonder if it was freshly-hit...

[liberal N proud]

4. The secret is freshness...

You wouldn't want this guy unless you saw it killed and painted at the same time



I found this where I found the picture:

.

In West Virginia if you run over an animal, you can legally take it home and cook it for dinner. A law passed in 1998 lets drivers keep their road kill, as long as they report it within 12 hours. According to supporters of the new law, the state will save money that had been used to have Highway Division employees remove dead animals from the road

[kpete]

6. liberal N proud

i very much appreciate your sense of humor
can't stop laughing
peace, kp

[liberal N proud]

9. When ever we are driving and spot a dead animal...

I always tell my kids we need to stop and paint a circle around it.

That way on the return trip, we will know which ones are fresh enough to take home for supper.

[kpete]

12. you MUST stop

i have work to do
must stop laughing
sick, sick, sick
kp

[asdjrocky]

20. My dad used to say the same thing. Good times.

[Fumesucker]

19. I don't think that's an armadillo..

There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos -Jim Hightower

[nc4bo]

7. Hey, gotta do what ya gotta do and I'd say these were definitely survival skills.

Who knows how many of us may have to go out picking up roadkill due to our economic situations.

[Tim01]

8. In the winter, road kill is refrigerated the second it is killed.

Country people know this. Many keep stuff in the back of their truck to deal with a deer carcass.

[Vickers]

10. A larger animal has a lot of thermal mass, so if you hit one and

don't have room to carry it with you right then, dress it out and stuff it with snow (if there is snow on the ground). I would be worried if I didn't do this that the residual body heat might be enough to "get things going" microbial-wise.

[Tim01]

14. I know a lot of people who have got most of their meat from road kill..

all year long. I can tell you that these people, the people who actually eat a lot of roadkill, have standards that would horrify modern american people. And, I've never known anybody to ever get sick from deer no matter the condition.
I live right on a big road. Once the temps get down, a dead deer doesn't stay there long at all. If you don't pick it up when you see it, it won't be there when you come back.

[HopeHoops]

11. Just toss it on the manifold - it will be done by the time you get home.

"Honey, I'm bringing home supper!"

[Champion Jack]

13. A deer that has been struck by a vehicle is going to be pretty messed up

if any internal organs rupture than you have a real mess. (Think bladders,spleen...) It's why hunters will gut the animal first thing.
Ever seen a deer that was shot by a hollow point bullet? The meat around the entry and exit points is pretty messed up. It has a lot of blood in it , might be good for sausage...I guess.
Imagine a deer that was hit by a 2 ton blunt object at 50 mph.

[FirstLight]

15. I always think of the pelt/feathers and not the meat

I admit, i am *such* a surbanite-white girl...that the thought of touching something in that state is gross and I dont stop because I dont want anyone to 'see' me playing with a dead animal on the side of the road.. lol

BUT - I have always wanted certain animal pelts or feathers for decoration and my own little Native American wanna-be self... I always thought if the meat had been there more than an hour it would be bad anyway...so I wouldn't think of eating it. gross.

BESIDES...have you seen what bears, racoons, coyotes and other 'urbanized' animals EAT...??? ewwww! I wouldn't eat bear meat if you shot it out in Desolation Wilderness...because I know what they eat here on our Tahoe Streets, and they have shit on my lawn enough times for me to KNOW I would no-way, no-how wanna peice of THAT meat. I am surprised these animals aren't teeming with parasites and cancer...
(ya - and not that the farm animals are any cleaner, I just can't think about it...and now that I have started the trains of thought...I may have to go vegan for a while till I "forget" again and need to go to Jack-inthe-box...sorry, I told you I was a Surbabanite-girl)!

:rofl:

[Blue_In_AK]

16. It's pretty much standard operating procedure

in Alaska that if a moose is killed by a vehicle or the Alaska Railroad, which happens hundreds of times a year, the meat goes to charity.

We eat, therefore we smash our cars into moose. :evilgrin:

[Contrary1]

25. !

:rofl:

I plan to alert all available Hollywood starlets.

[mamaleah]

17. i have heard that AK has a "road kill" list people can sign up for

So if bambi or Mr Moose gets smooshed in your area, you can possibly go and collect him up for dinner.

[FirstLight]

18. I know, I know...it's cliche, but i couldn;t help it

:rofl: thanks for the morning chuckle...

[noamnety]

21. Am I the only DUer who has eaten road kill?

Back when we were unemployed except for my reserve pay, we did a lot of scavenging for all kinds of food.

[Tim01]

22. American is full of consumers now. What about the deer?

Lets just ignore the financial aspect for a moment.

Which is more honorable a thing to do for the noble deer who died on the road.
1) The deer is collected by a local family of nature lovers who eat the deers flesh and are grateful to the deer for helping them to live. Anlters become tools and jewelry. Hooves become the strongest glue known to man. Hides become one of the best clothing known to man. The family dog gets fantastic scraps and falls asleep next to the fire.
2) The deer rots in a disgusting putrid maggot filled mess in the gravel beside the asphalt with the constant noise of trucks stench of exhaust.

Yeah, I know a dead deer can't feel anything. But I still think there is value in doing the right thing.

[noamnety]

23. I'm definitetly in the "once it's dead it's dead" camp.

But I appreciate the point you are making all the same.

Every now and then we have the clash of classes on DU, and we get to see the people who are above having to really make ends meet using "humor" against those who can't always just run to the store and buy things they take for granted. I'm not in that life anymore, but it still bothers me to see mocking of people who live with extended family because they can't afford their own place, mocking of people who don't act "civilized" by having leisure time to sit and do nothing while they sip their morning coffee, or mocking of people who don't just have money in their wallets to pop off to the store for prepackaged foods.

[pitohui]

24. there are actually legal issues, DON'T assume it's legal

in many areas if i hit a deer in my car and just toss in my car, and get caught w.out the proper tag/license, i'm going to pay a fine, the amount depending on if it's out of season etc.

you are not allowed to just "take" wildlife and then say, "sorry, officer, it was roadkill!"

heard a funny story about a good ole boy who picked up a deer he hit w. his truck, threw it in back, deer comes to and starts kicking around awhile later...don't remember how the whole thing turned out, it has been too long, but it wasn't real pretty

in louisiana we do have wildlife officers who stop people and check vehicles for poached meat/shellfish, a friend used to have a freezer in his truck and he got stopped a few times

[XemaSab]

26. I know someone who shot a mountain lion

and it "came to" in the back of the truck.... which had a camper shell. x(

[dugaresa]

27. The key is not being squeamish because you need to field dress game

and it isn't for the faint of heart.

http://hunting.about.com/od/deerbiggame/ht/htfielddress.htm

My spouse nearly fainted when we were at a gas station and there was a field dressed deer on the roof of this car next to us. It even had a tarp over the main incision but there was blood coming down the roof of the car. which indicated what had "happened"

my hubby kept asking "why didn't they wait to get home to do that?" and I had to explain that you don't have that kind of time before the internal organs start the decay process and contaminate the meat.

I have known guys who told me it took them 2 hours in cold temps to get a deer to their car from where they shot and dressed it.