Road kill

[CrazyCatLady]

I'm watching a program called the ultimate guide to penny pinching on channel 4. There's a guy who hasn't paid for meat for like 30 years. He collects and eats road kill!
Apparently he's very experienced so knows what he's doing etc.
My point is, as far as I can see...this is a good thing :-/ he's not contributing to the meat industry. There animals weren't killed for his consumption. And in the mean time he isn't buying any meat!
Just thought it was interesting xxx

 

[Envy]

In one way, you could call that the most natural way a human could eat meat.

 

[Pickle Juice]

No it's not a good thing. It takes food away from scavengers who can't survive without it.

 

[CrazyCatLady]

No it's not a good thing. It takes food away from scavengers who can't survive without it.

I did think about this.
I then wondered whether it was good that other animals wouldn't be encouraged to the road? Xxx

 

[Pickle Juice]

I did think about this.
I then wondered whether it was good that other animals wouldn't be encouraged to the road? Xxx

Well if a person is iron-stomached enough to "harvest" roadkill, they can just as easily throw it off the road for safe consumption by other critters.

I used to know a man who did this with road killed animals. He also used to check the pouches of opossums killed on the road in case there might still be a live baby inside. That was to save them, not to eat them.

 

[SuicideBlonde]

All I can think of when hearing this is food born illness.

 

[SummerRain]

I can see what you mean. I think for environmental/wildlife reasons it should be left alone, carrion is eaten by a lot of animals especially in winter (birds, omnivores, carnivores and insects/etc too) and goodness knows we've done enough to prevent some species from thriving, at least some small good can come from the roads/etc. However if you ignore the wildlife impact, I can see how eating meat in this way doesn't directly encourage the killing of animals in any way, and from that perspective it isn't a bad thing.

You could also consider how sustainable this way of eating would be, i.e. could everybody only eat roadkill ? Nope, well they could but they wouldn't eat much! That doesn't make it wrong, but I like to consider that too when considering the morality of something, because if something isn't sustainable than it's not a wide-spread solution. I.e. eating roadkill might work for one man, but it's not a solution to the ethical problem of eating meat generally.

I think the most important argument is that road kill is important for wildlife though. I wouldn't object on "it's wrong to eat meat" grounds.

 

[thefadedone]

I think it's disgusting. How does he know how long the animal has been there? Sitting in the sun, decaying, rotting, being swarmed by flies and insects. Gross.

He wants to save money by not actually purchasing meat but he can easily save money by not eating any meat!

 

[beancounter]

You would really have to cook the meat VERY well to kill potential diseases, parasites, etc. that took up residence in the carcase before you picked it up.

 

[PTree15]

I agree that it should be left to other animals to eat.

 

[Pirate]

Most animals I see are knocked to the side of the road anyway, so surely a scavenger wouldnt actually be in the road when it was getting it. I agree that this sounds like a great way to get some lovely diseases.

And another point. Surely he has to drive around for quite a while before he finds something? I cant imagine you find a lot of roadkill within a mile or two of your house, even if you live in the sticks. Great petrol consumption there.

Also it perpetuates the idea that we HAVE to eat meat. he could easily just turn vegetarian if he was that concerned about money.

 

[ledboots]

There are many deer hit by cars in rural Gergia. The deputies in my sister's area know local people they call to come and take it when they see a deer that has been killed.