Contrast that with many other countries and we have a quite different story. A friend related his experience of hitting a kangaroo at 100km/h on his motorbike.
"That ended that ride," he said. "Just as well I was wearing all the gear." In Australia, five per cent of all fatal crashes involve animal collisions and the average insurance bill for vehicle damage is $5000. They don't have roo bars for nothing.
In many other countries, the intrusion of roads on wildlife habitats means that deer, moose, bears, pigs and many birds become victims, while in Australia fatalities also include Tasmanian Devils, wombats, cassowaries and koalas. There's a case in Tasmania where a new road caused the local extinction of the Eastern Quoll small animal species. The issue creates an interesting conversation about wildlife damage, driver behaviour and what to do with recently deceased animals.
Many states in America have laws allowing roadkill salvage. The Californian bill which was enacted last year allowed Californians to pick up deer, elk, antelope and wild pigs and stated: "The intent of the Act is to make available tens of thousands of pounds of a healthy, wild, big game source that is currently wasted each year following wildlife vehicle collisions". Roadkill is the ultimate available organic meat and some charities value their ability to provide such delicacy to people experiencing poverty.
Last year, a National American Roadkill Day was instituted on September 25. This was a day which recognised roadkill as a useful, no-waste way to feed America. The day honoured roadkill as a valuable sustainable resource which is celebrated with recipes, cooking displays, festivals, stories, outdoor activities and animal crossing driver awareness displays. So there you go, only in America!
There has to be a caveat to harvesting roadkill for human consumption. Experts suggest checking for recency with clear glossy eyes and blood that hasn't coagulated. A good roadkill has a pliable body with legs and parts that can still be moved. Other tips: once skinned, check that the animal's insides are still warm and are without disease. Discard any parts that have suffered significant trauma - and don't tell your guests where the rabbit has come from.
Personally we've had a couple of cats which were partial to possum and bunny. Picking up recently deceased possums off the road was a regular occurrence on a night-time drive back from an Auckland meeting. It can be a bit of a lottery though, with one I recall being less than recent and leaving an enduring unpleasant smell before being re-deposited back onto the road.
Roadkill data is pretty scant in New Zealand although a couple of scientists have done independent counts over a number of decades on 1660 km of North Island highways. Dr Bob Brockie found up to 89 carcases per 100 km with possums being relatively stable in numbers, but rabbits increasing by 59 per cent over one decade. Such counts can give an indication of the relative wildlife health of the surrounding environment.
Animals and birds are part of our roadside fauna and when they arrive just in front of you, driving experts suggest that you are better to keep driving than trying to avoid them. Better a dead possum as roadkill, than a dead driver.
