Roadkill Identification

I look!!!! I hit an armadillo once. I had a big dent in my car from him but he was deader than a door nail. I didn't feel too bad. They are mean mean animals!!! It was late and I didn't want to end up in the ditch.

I do tend to look...I don't get all upset about possums and raccoons but if it happens to be a kitty cat I feel bad, thinking it might have been somebody's pet. :(

I'm the chick you see on the side of the road pulling the animal off so it doesnt keep getting squished. I keep plastic bags in the back so I dont have to touch them. I also say a prayer for them....I know, I'm a weirdo!

It's kind of hard not to look - especially when there are 6 or more turkey vultures picking apart the carcass.
Sometimes you can tell what it was, and other times too many cars have run it over and there's not enough left to ID.
I saw my first live nutria scamper away from the road side last week (it looked a lot like a huge giant rat but was smaller than a cat) and it just creeped me out.
I don't mind possums, but this thing was one ugly looking critter.

We look and identify (buck, doe, fawn, skunk, porcupine, etc.) We live out in the sticks and see a lot on our drive into town.

Sometimes. It just depends on how recent it is I suppose. There are a LOT of Bambi's on the side of the road around here at certain times of the year. And opossums and raccoons, too. Very few dogs/cats.

But I like to look because we have lots of other animals around, and I never seem to see them as roadkill. Perhaps they are just smarter than the average bear (er.. I mean average deer). Never seen a fox, boar, or bobcat as roadkill. Even though it isn't unusual to see "herds" (?) of wild hogs rooting in the ditches, with lots of babies too.

I have tried to avoid running over squirrels. I have failed. So I don't try anymore. Their tactics probably work for evading their normal predators (birds of prey), but zigzagging across the road and turning back to run BACK in front of my car for a 2nd or 3rd time, is just plain stupid in the world of automobiles. So I quit trying to evade, because they inevitably just turn and run back across anyway... that's how I squashed the last one.

The kids immediately jumped up and strained their necks to see out of the back of the car, to see if it was indeed squashed.... LOL

Nah, I closely examine for blood, guts & freshness. It's sick, I know. It's morbid curiosity.

My husband laughs at me because I will slam on the brakes for a bird or squirrel, I've even done it for a mouse. And yes, I will yell at them, "What are you thinking?! Get off the road!!"

We used to have a 45 minute drive in the mountains every morning to get to school.

We played a game... we would each choose an animal, and whoever's animal was splatted across the road the most won. We had deer, fox, raccoon, squirrels, snakes, and coyote, as the main culprits...

Morbid, I know, but for us it was a part of life.

Although, I always become a professional stunt driver trying to avoid animals if they are still alive (so long as it doesn't put me in harm's way... Sorry squirrel, but if it's a choice between you going squish, and my car getting scraped off someone else's... you're gonna squish...)

I am always VERY sad to see a cat or dog as roadkill though. That could be someone's pet! :(

if I notice there is roadkill, then I try not to look. Looking at things like that makes my stomach flip

I look to see what kind of animal. I feel really bad if i see a dog or kitty :( I did see a bear about 2 weeks ago. That was a first its usually deer or elk.

I look. You never know it may have ran away from my home. :p

Every now and then a bird flies into my car. I actually argue with my kids. They claim I killed the bird, I argue it was assisted suicide. Sorry but that bird had to see my car!

Small game, yes. Deer, heck no! Brings back a terrible memory of a time I saw a semi run over the hind legs of a doe, while her front legs were desperately clawing at the road, trying to drag her across. Hind legs were flattened, and there was a huge steaming tire track across them. It has been 20 years since I saw that happen, but I can recall every detail of the scene.

Racoons, I can't look, having run over a whole FAMILY of racoons one night while driving through the forest preserve near O'Hare.

I look, just so I can call animal control and report it. I try to look more at the nearest mailbox so I can give the house number to animal control so they can pick up the carcass. It helps me, and I hope it helps the drivers who will travel down that road later on in the day.

I cant help but look. I dont stare but I do look. Curiosity!

I dont feel so bad for raccoon and possums, they are evil little critters but my Mom always goes "Ohhh poor possum" or "Awww poor Rocky" Lol.

I hit a deer once, on my way back to work, it jumped right out in front of my car, I tried to swerve a bit but they are zig zaggers, so it hit my car and I stopped and looked at it to see if it died, but it jumped right back up and back into the woods! It was pretty crazy, and no dents in the car or anything. I was late to work but when I told my boss he just shook his head and walked off haha.

I look away. I only look enough to be able to avoid it. Things like that haunt me. Once the image is uploaded, so to speak, I don't know how to delete it from my memory. If I just catch a glimpse, I can sort of shake the etch a sketch in my mind and move on.

oh yeah I totally look to see what it was lol

Yeah, I always look. Hate it.

When I see a deer or squirrel or other animal on the road and it can't decide which way to run, I repeatedly honk my horn and they usually get off the road in time.

Good luck to you and yours.

Never really thought about it... I grew up in the woods so to speak and roadkill was normal.

I always looked in the spring and summer though, because if it was a skunk I wanted to hold my breath :).

Now upty ump years later, I still glance to see if what it is, but not so much on the breath holding. Hard to drive when you can't breathe!! :)