Good news for people living in Oregon: if you hit something on the road while you’re driving, you can legally scrape it up and throw it on the bar-bee-cue. Well, with a permit, of course.
Waste not, want not – isn’t that what Grandma always said?
In mid-June 2017, Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed a bill that made it legal to “harvest” the meat from whatever you mow down with your vehicle. Not a single state legislator voted “no.”
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission has until January 2019 to adopt rules for permits allowing the harvesting of meat from deer and elk killed on state roadways. Under the commission’s current guidelines, only licensed fur-trappers are permitted to handle protected animals killed by vehicles. But if you’re hungry for skunk, coyotes, or nutria, they’re all yours.
The state bill was sponsored by Sen. Bill Hansell and Rep. Greg Barreto. Hansell commented:
“Those accidents are very unfortunate [but] it seemed there’s just got to be a better way to take care of that.” [2]
Coming from an area of the country where the roads are littered with dead deer, particularly in the autumn months, it does get a little disgusting seeing the poor creatures just lying there.
You can’t aim for your dinner on purpose or kill them off-site. And you have to turn the antlers over to the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission. No mounting the antlers on the wall and bragging to your friends about how far that sucker flew when he bounced off your bumper.
There are 20 other states that allow roadkill harvesting, including Washington, Idaho, and Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, drivers can also take turkeys that were killed on the road, as long as they notify the commission within 24 hours of hitting the fowl. (Who else would know?) In fact, Pennsylvania tops the country in road kills with over 126,000 vehicle-wildlife accidents in 2015.
Todd Toven, of Castle Rock, Colorado, says people shouldn’t be turned off by the idea of eating roadkill. Toven has been slicing up street meat for years.
“A lot of people who don’t hunt hear the word ‘roadkill’ and they get turned off … we’re talking perfectly clean, cold meat.”
Consider it a consolation prize for destroying your car.
Sources:
[1] Oregon Live
[2] The Daily Caller
