MalahatTwo7
11-28-2003, 10:49 AM
It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it
We see it almost every day. Most of us turn our heads to avoid looking too closely. But have you ever wondered who cleans up road kill?
Ian Dutton Times Colonist Friday, November 28, 2003
Deddeda Stemler, Times Colonist / Cleaning up road kill is one of the more distasteful jobs for JJM Highway Maintenance crews.
It's part of the everyday detritus of modern living -- flattened felines, crushed canines and rumpled ruminants strewn -- or worse -- along the highways and byways of our urbanized community.
But whether it's pulped pussycats or mashed mongrels, someone has to clean up the mess.
Along Victoria area highways, that someone is from JJM Highway Maintenance.
Richie Harold of JJM said the task is not one his crews look forward to.
"It's not the greatest job," he said, estimating they'll get a half-dozen or so calls a day about dead animals in peak season.
"A lot depends on the time of year -- in rutting season some of those bucks think they can take on a car or truck.
"And in the fall, around Goldstream Park, you get the seagulls. They gorge themselves on the rotting fish and get too heavy to get airborne very well. Then they meet a 13-foot-high semi, and splat! And we get to clean it up, after it's been run over a few more times."
Al Planiden of the Highways Ministry said the latest figures show 4,700 collisions between vehicles and animals in B.C. are reported every year by highways maintenance crews.
Planiden said the ministry tracks the collisions through the Wildlife Accident Reporting System, trying to determine where the major problems are and how effective preventive measures such as fences and reflective devices are in fending off animals.
"In 2002, ICBC reported 9,800 claims that were wildlife related, with a value of $26-million in damages," he said.
"We continue to monitor the numbers because, from a financial point of view, it makes more sense for ICBC to put a couple of million dollars into a fence if it cuts down significantly on claims.
"That's not to mention the benefits for the wildlife."
He said that the number of claims-related collisions are only a small part of the picture. Many animals struck and injured will die away from the highway and go unreported.
The No. 1 animal involved in claims-accidents is deer, followed by moose, elk and bear.
Harold said that carcasses collected locally wind up in a special section of the Hartland landfill.
On the Gulf Islands and areas where there is no dump, the slain creatures are buried in pits.
"On Saltspring, the vet over there will come out and drug an animal that's dying," Harold said. "Then they take them back and store them in a freezer and once or twice a year we go and collect them and take them to Hartland.
"We can't bury the drugged ones in a pit because the raptors and birds of prey might get infected."
Harold said that if an animal is clearly a pet, with a collar or identifying tags, the hardware is retrieved and the body set aside in case the owner wants to claim it for burial. "That's a little easier at this time of year, when it's cooler," he said.
He said the speed with which road crews retrieve the roadkill depends on where the carcass is.
"If it's off to the side of the road we can relax a little bit. But if it's in a vehicle lane, well, we have to deal with that right away.
"And we need to know what we're looking at. If it's a deer, that's one thing, but there's been a couple of times up on the Malahat when we've had a Roosevelt elk.
"You can't send a couple of guys out for that, you need a truck with a crane."
Some people come looking for roadkill and ask the maintenance staff to call when there's fresh meat, he said.
"They use them for scientific study, haul them back in the bush and track what animals show up, and how long that takes.
"And who knows, maybe someone wants them for dog food or something -- they don't tell us."
Off Beat: A Weekly Look at the Unexpected in Everyday Lives
© Copyright 2003 Times Colonist (Victoria)
We get a lot of "deer kills" out this way. Sometime late Sunday night, just a few miles south of a place called Ladysmith, the remains of a deer lay.... well sort of - it looked like a carcass explosion all over the road. It was only because I recognized a part of a hindquarter, that I realized it really was a deer at one time. I don't know what vehicle hit it or at what speed, but "explosion" is the best way to describe what remained.
We see it almost every day. Most of us turn our heads to avoid looking too closely. But have you ever wondered who cleans up road kill?
Ian Dutton Times Colonist Friday, November 28, 2003
Deddeda Stemler, Times Colonist / Cleaning up road kill is one of the more distasteful jobs for JJM Highway Maintenance crews.
It's part of the everyday detritus of modern living -- flattened felines, crushed canines and rumpled ruminants strewn -- or worse -- along the highways and byways of our urbanized community.
But whether it's pulped pussycats or mashed mongrels, someone has to clean up the mess.
Along Victoria area highways, that someone is from JJM Highway Maintenance.
Richie Harold of JJM said the task is not one his crews look forward to.
"It's not the greatest job," he said, estimating they'll get a half-dozen or so calls a day about dead animals in peak season.
"A lot depends on the time of year -- in rutting season some of those bucks think they can take on a car or truck.
"And in the fall, around Goldstream Park, you get the seagulls. They gorge themselves on the rotting fish and get too heavy to get airborne very well. Then they meet a 13-foot-high semi, and splat! And we get to clean it up, after it's been run over a few more times."
Al Planiden of the Highways Ministry said the latest figures show 4,700 collisions between vehicles and animals in B.C. are reported every year by highways maintenance crews.
Planiden said the ministry tracks the collisions through the Wildlife Accident Reporting System, trying to determine where the major problems are and how effective preventive measures such as fences and reflective devices are in fending off animals.
"In 2002, ICBC reported 9,800 claims that were wildlife related, with a value of $26-million in damages," he said.
"We continue to monitor the numbers because, from a financial point of view, it makes more sense for ICBC to put a couple of million dollars into a fence if it cuts down significantly on claims.
"That's not to mention the benefits for the wildlife."
He said that the number of claims-related collisions are only a small part of the picture. Many animals struck and injured will die away from the highway and go unreported.
The No. 1 animal involved in claims-accidents is deer, followed by moose, elk and bear.
Harold said that carcasses collected locally wind up in a special section of the Hartland landfill.
On the Gulf Islands and areas where there is no dump, the slain creatures are buried in pits.
"On Saltspring, the vet over there will come out and drug an animal that's dying," Harold said. "Then they take them back and store them in a freezer and once or twice a year we go and collect them and take them to Hartland.
"We can't bury the drugged ones in a pit because the raptors and birds of prey might get infected."
Harold said that if an animal is clearly a pet, with a collar or identifying tags, the hardware is retrieved and the body set aside in case the owner wants to claim it for burial. "That's a little easier at this time of year, when it's cooler," he said.
He said the speed with which road crews retrieve the roadkill depends on where the carcass is.
"If it's off to the side of the road we can relax a little bit. But if it's in a vehicle lane, well, we have to deal with that right away.
"And we need to know what we're looking at. If it's a deer, that's one thing, but there's been a couple of times up on the Malahat when we've had a Roosevelt elk.
"You can't send a couple of guys out for that, you need a truck with a crane."
Some people come looking for roadkill and ask the maintenance staff to call when there's fresh meat, he said.
"They use them for scientific study, haul them back in the bush and track what animals show up, and how long that takes.
"And who knows, maybe someone wants them for dog food or something -- they don't tell us."
Off Beat: A Weekly Look at the Unexpected in Everyday Lives
© Copyright 2003 Times Colonist (Victoria)
We get a lot of "deer kills" out this way. Sometime late Sunday night, just a few miles south of a place called Ladysmith, the remains of a deer lay.... well sort of - it looked like a carcass explosion all over the road. It was only because I recognized a part of a hindquarter, that I realized it really was a deer at one time. I don't know what vehicle hit it or at what speed, but "explosion" is the best way to describe what remained.