Talk:Roadkill/Archive 1

Class Evaluation
Hi, I’m writing an evaluation of this content for my class describing how it relates to my class as well as my thoughts on the overall content. This article is an appropriate subject to evaluate for my Autopsy and Visual Culture class, as it directly relates to Autopsy. Just as Roach explained in her literature as a person dies, they are no longer a person and they become a cadaver, from her perspective. Except other people have an emotion connection to the dead, as it was once someone they had loved. However in terms of animal deaths such as roadkill, roadkill is roadkill and their is no such mourning. Both used to be living but our natural emotional responses are different. This article looks to be written from a neutral point of view, as there are many different points of views that I had never even thought about for the subject such as, intentional collisions and even music, art and literature. There is a great amount of information, but some of the information is missing citations, as someone noted in the text instead of erasing the information. The lead section seems like it could be edited to flow better and get rid of any unnecessary information such as the phrase “Motor vehicles driven by humans.” I think the human part can be left out because it is irrelevant in my opinion. Also, the phrase at the end that says, “roadkill can also be eaten” seems like it was put there as a filler and doesn’t flow well. The overall structure of the page is well done with headings and subheadings well organized. There are pictures on the right side going down the page showing different types of roadkill. The descriptions of the pictures should be edited so they follow the same layout instead of switching between the use of roadkill, as in roadkilled deer, a roadkill squirrel and Wombat roadkill. I think that could be looked over a little bit. The talk page is very interesting and in terms of what people have to say and how they interact with each other. Everyone is really nice and some of the topics of discussion include the use of too many photos, other types of roadkill animals, and further statistical evidence. Honestly I really enjoyed doing this evaluation and I learned a lot more about roadkill than I thought I could!(Amstutz2 (talk) 03:36, 2 February 2016 (UTC))

Field of study
It is a field of study which has been recorded since 1938. Can this be expanded upon? RickK 22:04 4 Jul 2003 (UTC)


 * Yes of course it can – feel free to do so, and we'll all benefit.--Wally Tharg (talk) 00:02, 10 May 2015 (UTC)

Simmons Society
Has anyone been able to find any stuff about the Simmons Society? It has been there since early on in the page's history, and was left by user:cimon avaro. I wasn't able to find an email address for Professor Knutson.Nathanlarson32767 07:44, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Roadkill seagulls
Here on Cape Cod, we periodically get roadkill seagulls. Seagulls open clams and other shellfish by picking them up and dropping them onto hard surfaces (such as rocks and roads) from the air. At times, they have been known to dive through the windshields of cars that come up beneath just as they drop the shell. --FOo 17:52, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)


 * And just how does this comment help to improve the article under discussion? --Wally Tharg (talk) 00:02, 10 May 2015 (UTC)

Eating roadkill?
Surprised to see nothing about eating roadkill on this page. I might add something later. – FrancisTyers 19:03, 19 October 2005 (UTC)
 * I've removed the reference to Tennessee making it illegal to eat roadkill because I found an article that says the opposite.--Nonpareility 19:45, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

does anyone have information on state roadkill programs to distribute the roadkill? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.66.213.108 (talk) 16:10, 7 October 2007 (UTC)


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the . Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

move. &mdash; Nightst a  llion  (?) 11:22, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Requested move
I requested moving Road fauna → Roadkill (currently a redirect) as Roadkill is a much more common name (i.e. 2,500,000 results for Roadkill on Google versus 445 for Road fauna). — -- Reinyday, 21:12, 5 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Support. Don't think I'm familiar with "road fauna" but the article uses roadkill when talking about it, so... Jibbajabba 21:38, 5 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Support no brainer. - FrancisTyers 01:25, 6 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Bewildered. US centric terms, and not necessarily used in other english speaking locations on the planet. Google is inherently us-centric. Would stongly suggest no action', unless non-us voters identify as such and identify local usages. I am australian.User:SatuSuro 09:14, 6 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Support. Jonathunder 23:19, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

While I acknowledge and understand SatuSuro's concern, I'm afraid the vote is still rather clear.


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

STUDY of numbers killed? Call the stats cops now!
One parochial-size survey and its estimated that 26,000,000 cats are killed on US roads annually. Either the methodology is fatally skewed beyond redemption or the extrapolation concepts of the interpreter got too hot. Crap math, crap science, crap citation, crap. This article is full of it and needs a review urgently. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Plutonium27 (talk • contribs) 01:40, 23 February 2007 (UTC).
 * Rather than ranting, I suggest you use your valuable time trying to improve the article.--Wally Tharg (talk) 00:02, 10 May 2015 (UTC)

The Roadkill Chef
Cooking roadkill on BBC3, and in australia -- 172.179.166.54 20:50, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

Too many images?
I think we got the idea with the first one or two. Do we really need so many pictures of mutilated animals in this article? -Scaeme —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.130.187.109 (talk) 03:41, 10 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I'm afraid I have to agree with that. You don't see photos of people shooting other people in the murder articles, or dead people, or such things in other articles. ― LADY GALAXY 21:36, 14 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Removing all the pics was overkill. What we should have is a few in the article, and a link to a gallery on Commons. I have several pictures I can add, but will add to and create a Commons gallery, including the ones removed here, probably as part of Commons:Category:Dead animals (warning - graphic pictures of dead animals). Carcharoth (talk) 05:47, 6 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Image:Dead hedgehog (road kill).jpg
 * Image:Robin roadkill 31l06.JPG
 * Image:Roadkill.jpg
 * Image:roadkilldeer.jpg
 * Image:Dead Opossum.jpg
 * Image:Fox road kill.JPG

Will add the above to a Commons category. Carcharoth (talk) 17:10, 6 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Is it REALLY necessary to keep any of these pictures? isn't the mere description of what a roadkill is enough? or do you think that's absolutely indispensable to provide gruesome pictures of some dead animals? --93.32.227.213 (talk) 21:54, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

Who picks up roadkill?
This is a valid question for those who are physically, psychologically and emotionally affected by the sight and smell of a battered mammalian corpse in the street or near a sidewalk.

As far as I can tell it is a citizen's duty to clean up roadkill, and few cities really have the funding or concern to implement a roadkill removal program, aside from an annual street clean. I think the article should touch on the issue of who is responsible for removing dead and dying animals from the roadside. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.175.60.108 (talk) 22:21, 30 January 2008 (UTC)


 * No it shouldn't. An encyclopedia article is not supposed to be prescriptive. It might make mention of existing practices though, I suppose. Extenebris (talk) 13:10, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Jeez == "no it shouldn't - WHY? Where in Wikipedia does it say that this? I personally (as someone who drives a LOT) would like to know who cleans this stuff up off the roads?  I suppose the logic behind no articles about THE ROAD KILL CAFE (Wyoming) mentioned on QI tonight is that because it's commercial it's not allowed?? What a load of crap.  I should be able to pick up an encyclopedia and look up ANYTHING - not just what a self appointed "editor" thinks is relevant!  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.98.252.87 (talk) 22:27, 8 April 2009 (UTC)


 * I agree it is a missing feature of this article. I hope to add something soon on it. It appears to be municipalities or people they contract out, and highway contractors who remove dead animals on the roads. They respond to reports from the public. Canadianknowledgelover (talk) 23:22, 18 September 2014 (UTC)


 * Done. I put it near the top of the page, because of its importance and urgency (public safety etc.) when dead animals are found. Included discussion of why quick removal is essential to public safety; and how it is done sometimes by moving rather than removing the carcass. Canadianknowledgelover (talk) — Preceding undated comment added 03:02, 19 September 2014 (UTC)

Wording
"The animal species most likely to be recorded as a roadkill are mammals."

Mammals are a class %28biology%29, not a species. There is no need to introduce taxonomical hair-splitting into the article, so I've just reworded this so that it sits better with purists like me. Extenebris (talk) 13:31, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

WikiProject Food and drink Tagging
This article talk page was automatically added with WikiProject Food and drink banner as it falls under Category:Food or one of its subcategories. If you find this addition an error, Kindly undo the changes and update the inappropriate categories if needed. The bot was instructed to tagg these articles upon consenus from WikiProject Food and drink. You can find the related request for tagging here. If you have concerns, please inform on the project talk page -- TinucherianBot (talk) 11:53, 3 July 2008 (UTC)


 * So it is food for something, but if you want to eat a 10 day dead Wombat, then go ahead. Enlil Ninlil (talk) 07:03, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

No mention of hedgehogs?
This article does not mention hedgehogs. In Northern Europe, Britain in particular, hedgehogs are the most well known animal in road kills. See here "between 113,000 and 340,000 hedgehogs are killed on Dutch roads each year. Sponholz (1965) estimated that the number of hedgehog traffic victims in former western Germany also was very high: 720,000–1,000,000 per year.". And here "You've all seen the the remains on the road. It's estimated that between 50,000–100.000 hedgehogs are killed by motor vehicles each year." (figure for GB). TiffaF (talk) 10:19, 29 June 2009 (UTC)


 * If you think the article would benefit from discussing hedgehogs as roadkill, then please feel free to edit it.Wally Tharg (talk) 00:02, 10 May 2015 (UTC)

Armadillos as common roadkill
The last section mentions that armadillos are a common roadkill because they jump when threatened. That doesn't make sense, armadillos curl up into balls. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.193.20.149 (talk) 01:27, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

The example picture
In that picture the driver is driving illegally. Thank you. 71.218.133.45 (talk) 17:15, 26 March 2010 (UTC)
 * What relevance does this have? It's an article on roadkill, not motor vehicle laws or traffic safety.Stian (talk) 10:28, 28 November 2010 (UTC)
 * It's unclear which picture was referred to, or whether it is still in the article. Consider that different countries use left hand traffic or right hand traffic rules.  Reify-tech (talk) 18:10, 14 April 2014 (UTC)

Removed paragraph
I removed this paragraph:

The number of road fauna present on a given stretch of freeway is said to follow a Poisson distribution. Some researchers believe lunar phases have an effect on the amount of road kills. Further study is needed to support this hypothesis.

The point about Poisson distribution seems very obscure, and the reference to lunar phases having an impacted seems simply far-fetched. While neither of those is a removal criteria in and of itself, neither statement includes a source.Stian (talk) 10:28, 28 November 2010 (UTC)

I want to make this article more palatable...
Hi, if no objections come within a day, I will be bold and replace some of the more gruesome images with much more "beautiful" (if you can say that with this topic) ones from Commons... We do have them, after all! This will illustrate very exactly what "roadkill" constitutes, but there will be somewhat less blood'n'guts involved. However, blood'n'guts will, in my opinion, be replaced by emotionality.

What do you think of my proposed radical changes? --Eu-151 (talk) 21:35, 19 November 2013 (UTC)


 * What about also exploring some of the more positive and useful sides to road-kill in conservation work? Road-kill numbers can be used to gauge a species' health. If a species is nocturnal or shy its numbers can be very hard to count and continually monitor in the wild and sometimes counting road-kill and comparing the amounts of road-kill from year to year is the only way to estimate the health of a species' population. The extent of road-kill spotted for each mammal is related to the number of those mammals in the wild. For example, in recent years there has been a noticeable decline in the numbers of hedgehog road-kills, as seen in the UK; from over 200,000 hedgehog road-kills in 1990 down to below 50,000 in 2010. It was easily noticed that there were fewer dead hedgehogs on the roads, in 2010, and this quickly and effectively raised awareness and concern about the health and sustainability of the Hedgehog population in the UK.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.148.23.103 (talk) 02:54, 14 April 2014 (UTC)

File:Roadkill on Route 170 Okatie Hwy by the Chechessee River, SC, USA, jjron 09.04.2012.jpg
Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Roadkill on Route 170 Okatie Hwy by the Chechessee River, SC, USA, jjron 09.04.2012.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on April 14, 2014. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2014-04-14. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. Thanks! — Crisco 1492 (talk) 00:15, 28 March 2014 (UTC)

Excuse me when saying this, but how the hell did a picture of roadkill make it to the front page. I would be inclined to believe it was chosen because it is shocking and a prank.. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 178.167.254.13 (talk) 17:20, 14 April 2014 (UTC)

Cultural Aspects; new Causes section
I was editing the Cultural Aspects section, and found the research about Intentional Collisions there. I don't think it really belongs there, but could go in a new category of causes of roadkill. Intentional collisions would be a small part of that. I looked at the research involved. While it referred to an early study that detected suspicion of roadkill, I couldn't find any reference of that suspicion or the related data in that study. This is the link to the secondary study: http://longpointcauseway.com/library/Road%20Mortality%20on%20the%20Long%20Point%20Causeway.pdf. The main author however is the same author as the study of intentional roadkill, so I will use his second study as a source for the suspicion. This earlier study is also a good source for causes involving development of roads in areas populated by wildlife.

I note there is a Research category in the article. However, that seems somewhat awkward. I'd rather see the topics of the research incorporated into the article by their subjects.

I'm having trouble with this statement in the Cultural Aspects section: "The fact that most people's encounters with roadkill occur long enough after the time of death for the carcass to be further macerated by traffic, or begin to decompose, has contributed to strong negative or ironic cultural associations and taboos. For example, when the Tennessee legislature attempted to legalize the use of accidentally killed animals, they became the subject of stereotyping and derisive humor. "

Is it a fact that roadkill encounters are long after the death? I don't think so. Would need a citation for that. It hasn't been the case in my experience in any travels in North America. I think the negative associations have more to do with the thought of eating roadkill itself, not being safe or sanitary or wholesome. I'm going to give a slightly different twist on it to that effect.

Canadianknowledgelover (talk) 23:06, 18 September 2014 (UTC)

I found this paragraph listed under "prevention" but it really belongs under "causes". It is labelled Attractive nuisance, which has an article associated with it and relates to a term from torts law that will not be widely known. I think it's better to talk about the phenomenon itself.

This is how it now reads:
 * "On roadways where rumble strips are installed along road shoulders, they may accumulate road salt in regions where it is used. The excess salt constitutes an attractive nuisance because it may attract both small and large wildlife in search of salt licks; these animals are at great risk of becoming roadkill or causing accidents.   "

Canadianknowledgelover (talk) 03:46, 19 September 2014 (UTC)

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This statement seems important but the link is dead. "Extrapolating these data nationwide, Merritt Clifton (editor of Animal People Newspaper) estimated that the following animals are being killed by motor vehicles in the United States annually: 41 million squirrels, 26 million cats, 22 million rat, 19 million opossums, 15 million raccoons, 6 million dogs, and 350,000 deer.[14]" --Eagle Pudding (talk) 18:32, 13 June 2016 (UTC)--

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