Dead dogs and cats on the interstates

[Zzonkmiles]

I was on I-95 for about 600 miles last week and I noticed that compared to most other interstates I've been on, there were A LOT more dead dogs and cats on or in the road. What gives?

Do these dead animals tend to be strays who met an untimely demise when they tried to cross the road?

Do these animals come from homes near the interstate and somehow cross a fence or swamp and get hit once they reach the road?

Do they tend to be family pets that somehow jumped out of or fell out of an open window or truck bed in a moving vehicle?

Do passengers who don't like/want their pets anymore "accidentally" let their pets slip through the window?

I'm used to seeing dead deer, raccoons and even the occasional bird as roadkill, but I-95 seems to have a lot more dogs and cats. So I'm just wondering why.

[DeaconG]

I-95 runs past quite a few subdivisions up and down the coast; could have been people's pets wandered out into traffic, though in my part of Florida I don't see much of it (despite the fact that my subdivision straddles I-95 and it would be extremely easy for them to get out there, I just haven't noticed it). Usually I see raccoons and possums getting trashed along with the occasional armadillo.

[3467]

I am in the Midwest and cant recall a dog in Years . Very few cats in rural areas fewer farms more coyotes. Mostly Raccoon Opossum deer in that order. I do biological research I was thinking of asking if some people would keep a roadkill diary. For cryptic species like raccoons where we have telemetry data we can use roadkills to estimate populations and trends. There have been several  studies recently The average is 10 animals per mile on roads over 400vpd and there are about a million miles of those

[triplemultiplex]

Lots of feral/barn cats prowl the countryside, urban and suburban environs.  They represent the vast majority of kitty road kill.  I see one almost every day in Tennessee, where I'm currently working; though almost never on the interstate.
Dog deaths must be rarer because we don't have very many places where they run around feral in this country.  Speaks to the efforts of animal control/humane organizations.  A dead dog to me means somebody was a shitty dog owner who shouldn't have had a dog to begin with.

Sadly, there is a segment of the human population; let's call them "psychopathic assholes"; who feel entitled to swerve into certain species that wander onto the road.  Cats are often one of those species.  I think I speak for the rest of humanity when I wish they all get cancer in their ass and have to shit in a bag the rest of their miserable lives.  If anyone on this forum is one of these people, go fuck yourself, jerk.
Accidents happen, but running over something on purpose is inexcusable.

[NE2]

Who cares? They're not endangered.

[theline]

Humans aren't endangered either, NE2. If you wander into the path of my car, you'll be glad to know that I swerve away, rather than at.

[NE2]

Humans are generally considered to be intelligent, though certain examples are dumber than cats and dogs.

[3467]

Virtually all raodkills are nocturnal so its usually too late to swerve Night Vision and the self driving cars should lower this massive and tragic toll

[3467]

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-04-07/html/2015-07766.htm
USFWS does consider roadkills as an endangering factor ..todays notice said not a big threat for this species -Few observations and low speed low volume roads

[DevalDragon]

Interstate 44 across Missouri has this problem as well. My guess is the DOT doesn't do a good job of cleaning them up as other states.

[US71]

Interstate 44 across Missouri has this problem as well. My guess is the DOT doesn't do a good job of cleaning them up as other states.

MODOT is supposed to have a special truck that picks up road debris and roadkills.

[Zzonkmiles]

Interstate 44 across Missouri has this problem as well. My guess is the DOT doesn't do a good job of cleaning them up as other states.

MODOT is supposed to have a special truck that picks up road debris and roadkills.

Where does the truck "offload" its cargo? And what happens to the dead animals? Are they dumped in the woods? Used as animal feed?

[SP Cook]

In the old days the WV DOT would just drag dead animals out of the roadway and into the woods and let nature take its course, aided by a bag of ag lime.  After all, animals die all the time and they just rot in the woods someplace.

Then came the EPA, which seems designed to do stupid things.  If the state touches the animal, it becomes responsible for taking it to an "approved landfill", which not all are, and PAY to have it "disposed" of. 

But if the highway workers or cops don't touch the animal, it is not their responsibility.  So current WV DOT and State Police policy are that if it is not a hazard to motorists, let it rot in place. 

[hbelkins]

In the old days the WV DOT would just drag dead animals out of the roadway and into the woods and let nature take its course, aided by a bag of ag lime.  After all, animals die all the time and they just rot in the woods someplace.

Then came the EPA, which seems designed to do stupid things.  If the state touches the animal, it becomes responsible for taking it to an "approved landfill", which not all are, and PAY to have it "disposed" of. 

But if the highway workers or cops don't touch the animal, it is not their responsibility.  So current WV DOT and State Police policy are that if it is not a hazard to motorists, let it rot in place.

I believe WV is the first (and perhaps only) place where I saw lime dumped on carcasses of dead deer and big dogs. If they no longer remove them, that probably explains why I see so many deer carcasses along the shoulders of I-64 and I-79.

[DandyDan]

I have never seen a dead dog on the interstate anywhere.  On non-interstates, I've seen them, but not very often.  I've seen dead cats on the interstate, always in rural areas.  I always assume they are feral cats, or possibly strays from a nearby farm.