Desperate times call for desperate measures. The Illinois General Assembly has passed a bill that would allow citizens to collect the carcasses of fur-bearing mammals found along public roadways, reducing the shameful waste of perfectly good roadkill while saving precious taxpayer dollars.
If Gov. Pat Quinn signs the measure into law, Illinoisans will be free to retrieve dead beaver, mink, weasel, fox, raccoon, muskrat, badger and opossum — during the legal hunting or trapping season, with the required stamps and permits.
The bill doesn’t place restrictions on the use of such prizes. A warm coat or a succulent stew? A properly dressed raccoon pelt can fetch up to $40, we’ve learned, but we also found a recipe for roasted raccoon that serves six to eight with leftovers for sandwiches.
Supporters of the bill note that citizen scavengers will save taxpayers money by doing work previously assigned to state and local road crews. So it’s a win all around.
(You should know, in case it matters, that the rules for claiming deer would not change. The driver of a car that kills a deer has first dibs on the venison. After that, it can be claimed by any Illinois citizen who is not delinquent in his or her child support payments. Best of all, there’s no bag limit.)
It never occurred to us that the long arm of the law was all that stood between a flattened varmint and the supper table. The state wildlife code, though, declares it illegal to “take or attempt to take” animals along a public right of way.
This is presumably meant to discourage hunters from firing across the four-lane, but the wording also seems to outlaw the harvest of animals that are already deceased. It will be good to have that cleared up. A citizen who risks life and limb to remove a dead beaver from the middle of the highway shouldn’t have to worry about being arrested for performing this important public service.
So hurry and sign the bill please, governor. Dinner’s getting cold.
