Dead freaking animals!
#1
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 1,214
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From: Baltimore, MD
Bikes: 2010 GT Tachyon 3.0
Dead freaking animals!
My commute is getting more and more polluted by the stench of month-old rotting carcasses.
Dead raccoon, dead tiny dog, dead deer, dead geese ... hit by cars and they continue to rot until enough cars have mashed them into a paste for the rain to wash away.
My city doesn't sweep streets, clean streets, remove broken glass from streets in any way. It also won't remove dead animals. I am going to call my city councilman and complain; I won't go near these things, nearly vomit from the smell, and I'm paying taxes to maintain roads which have bricks showing through the asphalt because they haven't been maintained since they were lain. I'm not cleaning this up; my taxes go to maintaining the streets, and removing dead animals is part of that. Yet the city refuses.
If all else fails, maybe I can find some nice volunteers that can stomach it. The dead animals can be dumped in parks or in front lawns of middle schools, or maybe on the stairs of city hall since it's their mess to clean up anyway. Just being nice and bringing it to you so you don't have to go so far.
Dead raccoon, dead tiny dog, dead deer, dead geese ... hit by cars and they continue to rot until enough cars have mashed them into a paste for the rain to wash away.
My city doesn't sweep streets, clean streets, remove broken glass from streets in any way. It also won't remove dead animals. I am going to call my city councilman and complain; I won't go near these things, nearly vomit from the smell, and I'm paying taxes to maintain roads which have bricks showing through the asphalt because they haven't been maintained since they were lain. I'm not cleaning this up; my taxes go to maintaining the streets, and removing dead animals is part of that. Yet the city refuses.
If all else fails, maybe I can find some nice volunteers that can stomach it. The dead animals can be dumped in parks or in front lawns of middle schools, or maybe on the stairs of city hall since it's their mess to clean up anyway. Just being nice and bringing it to you so you don't have to go so far.
#2
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2010
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From: Coupeville, WA
Bikes: 84 Raleigh Technium- 89 Shogun Mt. Bike-96 Miyata 914
Around here they usually get scavenged by other critters pretty fast. I have even seen triple road kill, where animals have been flattened while eating other animals that have been flattened.
Kind of ironic.
Kind of ironic.
#3
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 1,214
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From: Baltimore, MD
Bikes: 2010 GT Tachyon 3.0
Around here they decay for months before washing away by rain. The bike path and the park next to the middle school smell like dead bodies. You could murder a small child and dump it right in the woods 3 feet from the road and the police would never find it because it wouldn't produce an unusual smell because the whole area always smells like that.
#4
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 899
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From: Coupeville, WA
Bikes: 84 Raleigh Technium- 89 Shogun Mt. Bike-96 Miyata 914
That is pretty gross.
I usually commute rural roads in the dark and one of my biggest safety concerns is hitting a deer (dead or alive) on a high speed downhill.
That would make for a bad day.
I usually commute rural roads in the dark and one of my biggest safety concerns is hitting a deer (dead or alive) on a high speed downhill.
That would make for a bad day.
#5
In town, they will scrape up what can be scraped up within 24 hours, but out of town, if it gets flattened enough before nightfall that nothing wants to eat it, it pretty much just has to rot away.
#6
Anything much smaller than a deer is going to get picked apart pretty quick by scavengers. Aren't there any crows around?
A deer will be removed by some official unless an opportunist grabs it for sausage before hand.
A deer will be removed by some official unless an opportunist grabs it for sausage before hand.
#9
Thankfully, I have a wide array of (living) fauna along my commute to take care of any messes. However, I swear a truck carrying manure has a flat tire today, because about every ten feet there was a pile of foul smelling soil. That was pretty unpleasant.
#10
"Per Ardua ad Surly"
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,416
Likes: 0
From: Kitchener, Ontario
Bikes: Bianchi Specialissima, Mongoose Hilltopper ATB, Surly Cross-Check, Norco City Glide
Saw a dead downy woodpecker yesterday. Sucks cuz I have liked woodpeckers ever since watching Woody as a kid.
#11
Senior Member
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 1,498
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From: Henderson/Las Vegas NV
Bikes: Giant Defy 2
I use a leaf blower to clean the MUP between my place and my job. I don't wait for the government to do anything. Fortunately, there is no such thing as road kill in Las Vegas unless its somebodys dog but I ride the MUP, not the road.
#12
I also decided to not wait on our local government to take action in keeping our local bike infrastructure clean, but after a few weeks, I found that it's good to check with the public works department on what certain procedures that one can legally do when cleaning their public right of ways.
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Prisoner No. 979
Prisoner No. 979
#13
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,965
Likes: 6
From: Falls City, OR
Bikes: 2012 Salsa Fargo 2, Rocky Mountain Fusion, circa '93
I have a dead skunk rotting away on one of my climbs on my way home. So I'm breathing hard and only going 5 mph as I go by. I never saw the skunk but I know it's there. Now that I think about it I almost ran over a skunk myself, twice, back in Jan. or Feb. riding my bicycle. I'm glad I didn't.
#14
The Rock Cycle


Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,691
Likes: 17
From: Western Colorado
Bikes: Salsa Vaya Ti, Specialized Ruby, Gunnar Sport, Motobecane Fantom CXX, Jamis Dragon, Novara Randonee x2
My regular commute goes through suburban neighborhoods. One morning I spotted a dead deer on a irrigation canal road adjacent to the paved road. Strange place for a deer to be. I assume someone hit it and then dragged it over to the canal road. I saw a person who lives in the neighborhood and told them about it. They might want to call someone to haul it away before it stinks too bad.
It never got removed and it stunk for a few days when I rode past there and is quite dessicated now. Guess the folks in that neighborhood don't mind that sort of stuff hanging around. <shrug>
It never got removed and it stunk for a few days when I rode past there and is quite dessicated now. Guess the folks in that neighborhood don't mind that sort of stuff hanging around. <shrug>
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Gunnar Sport
Specialized Ruby
Salsa Vaya Ti
Novara Randonee x2
Motobecane Fantom CXX
Jamis Dakar XCR
Gunnar Sport
Specialized Ruby
Salsa Vaya Ti
Novara Randonee x2
Motobecane Fantom CXX
Jamis Dakar XCR
#16
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 84
Likes: 0
Welcome to Bodymore, Murderland. They don't seem to understand raising the property taxes in the city drives people right over the line to the county. Until they figure out the basic principals of public finance, your daily experiences are unlikely to change.
Besides, they're busy refurbing Pratt and Light streets for the IRL race Labor Day Weekend. They don't have time to be picking up dead animals!
Besides, they're busy refurbing Pratt and Light streets for the IRL race Labor Day Weekend. They don't have time to be picking up dead animals!
#19
Senior Member
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 925
Likes: 11
From: Rochester MN
Bikes: Raleigh Port Townsend, Raleigh Tourist
#21
Senior Member
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 1,498
Likes: 0
From: Henderson/Las Vegas NV
Bikes: Giant Defy 2
I also decided to not wait on our local government to take action in keeping our local bike infrastructure clean, but after a few weeks, I found that it's good to check with the public works department on what certain procedures that one can legally do when cleaning their public right of ways.
It looks like I will only really need to clean it once each spring and fall. I can get dropped off uphill and blow the entire 7 miles off by days end. I'm trying to figure out how I can shoulder a gallon gas can for the duration.
I could care less how the people who don't clean the trail feel about how the person who does clean the trail cleans the trail.
#22
GATC

Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 8,839
Likes: 183
From: south Puget Sound
slug season is winding down and garter snake migration is picking up. I hit one the other day as it was racing across the trail, I felt really bad. I think I hit it behind the body cavity so it was mostly spare parts I took out (I hope).
More racoons and possums out there topping the road pizza lately.
More racoons and possums out there topping the road pizza lately.
#23
Senior Member


Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 1,846
Likes: 20
From: Fort Worth, TX
Bikes: 2006 Specialized Ruby Pro aka "Rhubarb" / and a backup road bike
It's creepy struggling on a hard bike ride and having vultures circle me overhead.
I've come around a corner fast to see a half-dozen vultures feasting on a deer carcass. I thought for sure I was going to collide with the birds, they were too full to get a quick take off. The encounter scared all of us.
I've come around a corner fast to see a half-dozen vultures feasting on a deer carcass. I thought for sure I was going to collide with the birds, they were too full to get a quick take off. The encounter scared all of us.
#25
2 Fat 2 Furious
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 3,996
Likes: 2
From: England
Bikes: 2009 Specialized Rockhopper Comp Disc, 2009 Specialized Tricross Sport RIP
It's creepy struggling on a hard bike ride and having vultures circle me overhead.
I've come around a corner fast to see a half-dozen vultures feasting on a deer carcass. I thought for sure I was going to collide with the birds, they were too full to get a quick take off. The encounter scared all of us.
I've come around a corner fast to see a half-dozen vultures feasting on a deer carcass. I thought for sure I was going to collide with the birds, they were too full to get a quick take off. The encounter scared all of us.




