Free Republic

Two days after Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officials brought in a mystery carcass, found in rural Douglas County, no positive identification has been made. D.N.R. Area Wildlife Supervisor Kevin Kotts said Friday that after examining the remains, there are no clear signs of it not being a badger, however its longer tail is inconsistent with badgers he has seen. Kotts said there are clear signs that the animal was hit on the road, suffering skull fractures, but an intact jaw could help determine a positive identification. He said he expects fur trappers who have more experience with local mammals...

If only this were a coalition of the left and the right working out differences. But alas, it’s just a coalition of mostly liberal politicians who used to label themselves by a political party and now would rather fly stealth. Sigh. If you are not familiar with “No Lables”, no worries, it’s brand new and they certainly deserve a Hat Tip for brevity. Here’s their declaration: We are not labels – we are people. We care deeply about our country. We are frustrated and concerned about the tone of politics. We are passionate about addressing America’s challenges. We are Democrats,...

(Nov. 22) -- With turkey prices at an all-time high this year, you may want to seriously consider serving another type of meat at your Thanksgiving dinner -- roadkill -- since it's fresh, fast and free. According to Midwest hunter Buck Peterson, author of "The Original Roadkill Cookbook" (Ten Speed Press) and other humorous outdoor parodies, the most efficient way to do Thanksgiving on the cheap is to serve your guests freshly hit and roasted roadkill instead of a traditional turkey. "This time of year is perfect for nabbing a deer on the road. The rut is on, and bucks...

Two Ohio police officers were suspended without pay for six months after admitting they drove past a woman's body at the side of the road because they thought it was a dead deer, according to news reports. The two veteran Cleveland cops, Matthew Prince and David Muniz, were sent to check on a reported body by a police dispatcher on April 5. They called the Ohio highway department saying they'd found a deer carcass, but a disciplinary hearing found that they never stopped their cruiser to double-check what they'd seen. GPS records showed their vehicle never dropped below 40 miles...

I'm so blessed to live in Georgia. While I CAN'T carry a concealed weapon in government buildings and churches (where these days, unfortunately, more people need them), at least I get to bag my roadkill:

PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) - Police say they charged a Pennsylvania man with public drunkenness after he was seen trying to resuscitate a long-dead opossum along a highway. State police Trooper Jamie Levier says several witnesses saw 55-year-old Donald Wolfe, of Brookville, near the animal Thursday along Route 36 in Oliver Township, about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. The trooper says one person saw Wolfe kneeling before the animal and gesturing as though he were conducting a seance. He says another saw Wolfe attempting to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Levier says the animal already had been dead a while.

The conservative wing of the Supreme Court has brazenly revealed its corporatist agenda; President Obama may have found a populist voice with which to hector Wall Street; having given away Ted Kennedy’s old Senate seat to a former Cosmo centerfold, Democrats are preparing to roll over on health insurance reform; and without doubt, Rush Limbaugh is making a complete ass of himself. Yet, for the first time in over a year, I won’t be able to talk about any of this on the radio. Air America, the long-suffering progressive talk radio network that carried my show, is no more. They...

A vigil for the famed turkey struck and killed by a motorist in Gerstle Park is set for Sunday in San Rafael. "Our beloved town pet was struck by a car and passed away Tuesday evening," said Rene Arias, a Gerstle Park resident. "For those of us that will miss him and would like to get together to say goodbye and share stories we are holding a town vigil." The bird had become a fixture in the neighborhood after dwelling there for about a year and a half, and became well-known for his vanity, healthy appetite and dissatisfaction with motorists....

THE Roads and Traffic Authority has proudly announced the success of a road safety program - for our State's native wildlife. To reduce the number of animals killed on NSW roads each year, the RTA has installed more than 200 animal crossings on NSW highways. Rather than wait for a break in the constant flow of traffic, native animals are using specifically built tunnels and bridges to cross roads. And some of Australia's favourite native creatures have been smiling for the cameras as they scurry by. A little possum was snapped crossing over a rope bridge that hangs above the...

Daniel East and his sister, Tevyn, were driving at night along Interstate 80 near the Nevada-Utah earlier this month, when their car slammed into a coyote that scurried in their path, reported Rex Features. Believing there was no way the wild animal could survive the 75 mph collision, the pair kept driving for eight more hours to their destination, where they finally inspected the damage to their car.

Presumably following the maxim of "waste not, want not", utilising roadkill has become a trend. In the UK, top forager Fergus Drennan (www.wildmanwildfood.com) has taken to holding roadkill suppers. In Australia one Les Hall published a handy guidebook to spotting deceased species on the road. And in Canada designer Amy Nugent has taken things a step further, "harvesting" highway hits from bears and moose (what you might call megafauna) through to porcupines to fashion a celebrated jewellery range (www.roadquill.ca) that includes bracelets and tie slides. I'm not completely blind to the ethical reasoning here. The first rule of sustainability is...

A Chinese restaurant in the Town of Hamburg was shut down by the Erie County Health Department Friday after an inspector found employees butchering a deer inside. Officials don’t know whether the dead deer at China King, 5999 South Park Ave., had been hunted or if it was road kill...

HEPPNER, Ore. — Roadkill: It isn't just for dinner anymore. A new roadkill compost center near Heppner will ensure that many deer, cattle and other animals killed along Eastern Oregon highways won't simply decompose in a ditch. Instead, they will become productive compost. The Morrow County Planning Commission has approved a permit for a roadkill composting facility. Officials say roadside carcasses are becoming a larger problem as Oregon's population grows, and that roadkill attracts scavengers such as coyotes, which bother farmers and boost the likelihood of more roadkill. Tom Strandberg, the regional spokesman for Oregon Department of Transportation, said the...

QUAD CITIES -- Illinois officials have grounded state highway workers, and that means you'll be seeing more dead animals along highways and interstates. ''There's alot more road kill, it's disgusting'', said a driver parked at a rest-stop along Interstate 74. ''It's not a very good image for the state. People drive through and see all that stuff in the road. '' Al Mustafa says he drives all over the country and noticed this week how bad it was on roads in Illinois. ''Dead deer. I've seen alot more. I seen a trucker almost have an accident trying to avoid one....

Sad but true...animals meet their maker on the highways and byways every day. We’ve all seen them...deer, raccoons, pheasants, geese, even bears...that happened to, (on purpose or accidentally), play in traffic. We look the other way and pretend that we didn’t see that big 12 point buck or that big old fat pheasant rooster laying on the shoulder of the road. The Road Kill Record Book Club celebrates and memorializes the alpha animals of the wild kingdom. Honor Mother Nature’s Finest. Pick up the “Big Guy”...measure with certainty...enter it in the Record Book. And if it’s a really good trophy...mount...

Has a mythical beast turned up in Texas? By ELIZABETH WHITE, Associated Press Writer August 31, 2007 Phylis Canion lived in Africa for four years. She's been a hunter all her life and has the mounted heads of a zebra and other exotic animals in her house to prove it. But the roadkill she found last month outside her ranch was a new one even for her, worth putting in a freezer hidden from curious onlookers: Canion believes she may have the head of the mythical, bloodsucking chupacabra. "It is one ugly creature," Canion said, holding the head of the...

Dead camel found on the roadside... in Sweden (AFP) 2 July 2007 STOCKHOLM - Motorists in Sweden are accustomed to seeing elks along the roadside, but the discovery of a dead camel on the shoulder of the E22 autoroute left more than a few eyebrows raised, media reported on Monday.‘But as the police patrol arrived at the scene it turned out to be completely true,’ police officer Lars Lindwall told Swedish news agency TT.Police got the call during the night between Sunday and Monday and found the visibly injured animal dead by the roadside outside the southern Swedish town of...

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070624/NEWS01/706240398

'Beaver’ gets all the blame British driver pins Grand Prix loss on wrong rodent Randy Boswell CanWest News Service Tuesday, June 12, 2007 Davidson blamed the wrong rodent for ruining his race when it wandered into the path of his car. It turns out a poor groundhog got in the way of the car. What, exactly, was that buck-toothed blur? The final, unfortunate act in the life of an unwitting Canadian rodent has grabbed headlines around the world after British Formula One driver Anthony Davidson blamed a "beaver" for wandering into the path of his car and ruining his race...

WEIRD BUT TRUE By MARSHA KRANES and Wire Services November 18, 2006 -- Why was the turkey crossing the road? That's what Steven Lapre of Springfield, Vt., would like to know. He's been charged with deliberately running over the turkey - on his way to an anger management class.