Fluff time, roadkill and you, do you avoid it, or try to flatten it more?

I try to avoid it unless the poor animal isn’t dead yet. Otherwise I try to hit the animal thusly: If it’s a ground squirrel, only the tire will do. Rabbits are easier since you can hit them with tires or undercarriage.
But it carries a certain amount of risk. I heard of a guy who hit a jack rabbit and the head punctured the radiator. From the back side!!!
I wouldn’t want to hit anything too big. Like a pig. Horses can be deadly! At night they try to jump over the headlamps!

I try to avoid it. But once during the morning rush. I ran over a rather large husky. I was driving to close to the person in front of me to have time to take evasive maneuvers.

It was also frosted over so it blended in with the accumulated snow and ice.

The placement was also odd it was in the center of the lane and it’s body was tail to head on. Not like it was taking evasive maneuvers or running across the road.

I still remember the feeling/hearing the sickening thud and crunch as my car as it scraped the bottom of its body.

I pull over and move the carcass off the road. It’s good to get roadkill off roads if safely possible because scavengers will come and get hit themselves if the carcass is still on the pavement. If the animal is mortally injured I either kill it or call Animal Control. If it’s a possum I check for surviving young, and if it’s a turtle I check for eggs.

I avoid it as much as possible.

@Unbroken I try to avoid it. But once during the morning rush. I ran over a rather large husky.
Did you stop, or keep going? I guess the Husky wasn’t “unbroken” anymore, sorry, it was too juicy a play on words not to say it.

@wildpotato If the animal is mortally injured I either kill it or call Animal Control. If it’s a possum I check for surviving young, and if it’s a turtle I check for eggs.
All the time? You have just enough time to get to the meeting or to work and you are in your monkey suit, you would risk wiping out your dry cleaning to search through the thickets for baby possums?

I can’t recall a time I’ve not stopped. I think the time it was the most trouble, when I tried to drive off and forget it but kept dwelling and had to go back was coming off the NJ Turnpike once, I passed a downed animal in an area where traffic was ~65mph and there was no possibility to pull off or turn around – so I snaked back through town, got back on the pike and drove past again, this time slowly enough to scope it out and see it was a most definitely dead seagull. Too dangerous to stop for a non-living animal, plus it was on a skyway so no other animals were likely to venture there to eat the gull in any event.

And yes, I’ve been late to places, including work and while in nice clothes, trying to help animals. Once I saw an injured pigeon near Rock Center in NYC and attempted to catch it in a cardboard box, all while wearing my work clothes and running late to work. Got some strange looks, for sure.

Baby possums live on the mother; it’s not a matter of looking through thickets but of checking the carcass.

I avoid it. I also try to see if it’s really dead, and if not, call the nearest wildlife rehabilitator.

An interesting article that relates to our discussion.

And a more in-depth write-up here.

Fluther has gone to hell.

^ Gone….?

I kept on going it was cold it was busy the dog looked big and heavy and possibly frozen to the road… But really my major concern was my car was still running and I was late to work…

Geez @wildpotato. If I tried to pick up every animal killed on the road I’d never get anywhere. However, I would have stopped in @Unbroken‘s case.