# morals check, please



## Jelpy (Nov 8, 2009)

I gotta know:

I'm driving along the road and see freshly roadkilled bunnies/squirrels etc. Two thoughts simultaneously spring to mind.

Poor little fuzzy thing 
and 
Ooo, I bet the dogs would like that. 


Is this

A. Thrifty 

B. Gross 

C. Both, but understandable in a raw feeder.

D. It depends on whether or not I take it home


Jelpy


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## GsdLoverr729 (Jun 20, 2010)

I would C. But I don't think I would take it home because the animals laying there dead may have diseases or just be too dirty to be good for your dog lol.


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## MilesNY (Aug 12, 2010)

I always think that it is horrible the little thing died and how it would be wasteful to not let this senseless loss of life benifit some other creature.... like my dogs... who really love deer!


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## Konotashi (Jan 11, 2010)

I'm there with you. 

My ferrets eat a raw diet, so it's significantly cheaper than if I fed a dog raw, but my mom rescued a wild bunny from the cat at her work. (It's bunny season though, so she's got plenty to eat). I know wild rabbits don't do well when brought into a 'home' situation and often die from the stress. I was thinking, "Hey, if the rabbit dies, the ferrets have a little bit of free food...." 
Of course I didn't tell my mom that, but it was a thought floating in the back of my mind....


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

O...M...G! I've done the same thing. I've never stopped, but the thought has crossed my mind. 

Now, since I have a pup that I'm training blood tracking, my thoughts go to .....hmmm, I wonder how fresh that is.....


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

I keep threatening to bring my next deer home. But I never do. I am afraid of the wasting disease. But still, that's a lot of meat. But if it was hit by someone else, hours ago, bloated, nasty, covered with flies -- YUCK!!!


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## Jelpy (Nov 8, 2009)

Thanks. I feel better now. I was starting to wonder about myself.....

Jelpy


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## CelticGlory (Jan 19, 2006)

I know a few people who have contacted wildlife and game authorities to set it up where they will give them the road kills like deer and other animals, could you all set something like that up? They get a lot of free meat that way...


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## Anitsisqua (Mar 25, 2012)

Oddly enough, this made me think of Sweeney Todd.

"And no wonder with the price of meat what it is, when you get it. Never thought I'd live to see the day. Men would think it was a trick, finding poor animals, what are dying in the street!"

Waste not, want not? So long as you know that it's fresh and rabies/leprosy isn't a big concern in whatever unfortunate species you come across...


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## Good_Karma (Jun 28, 2009)

I was walking with Rosa one day and on our way back home we came across a fresh chipmunk (was not there on our way out, so it was minutes dead). I let her carry it home, but drew the line at letting her eat it. But then she's not raw fed. I'm not sure I have the mental fortitude for skinning and dressing out road kill for my dogs. I'd imagine it's a messy job. But I know people who are willing to eat road kill. It's not so weird. I'd pass on it personally, but that's just me, I'm not a big meat eater. If I saw a fresh tofu road kill, I'd be all over it.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

When my husband was in boy scouts they used to rave about the Bruisnwick stew one of the locals made (Southeast GA) and he verified that his exotic flavors came from road kill. Funny they never had him make it again.


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

Good_Karma said:


> I'm not sure I have the mental fortitude for skinning and dressing out road kill for my dogs. I'd imagine it's a messy job.


Ummm...you don't necessarily have to skin or dress it out. :lurking:


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## northwoodsGSD (Jan 30, 2006)

We pick up road kill quite often. The road we live on usually has a couple deer/car kills a month. If it's not there in the morning, but it's there in the afternoon I'll pick it up. I've picked up partridge & rabbit also. We don't have any problems with diseases in the wild animals like some places do.


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## GsdLoverr729 (Jun 20, 2010)

northwoodsGSD said:


> We pick up road kill quite often. The road we live on usually has a couple deer/car kills a month. If it's not there in the morning, but it's there in the afternoon I'll pick it up. I've picked up partridge & rabbit also. We don't have any problems with diseases in the wild animals like some places do.


You are a lucky person lol! I have to rely on my neighbors to give me meat from their kills (we have a terrible deer overpopulation right now so hunting is quite common).


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## Good_Karma (Jun 28, 2009)

Lilie said:


> Ummm...you don't necessarily have to skin or dress it out. :lurking:


Really??? It's okay to let them eat the skin/hair? I would think that would bind them up. 

But I guess wild animals deal with it okay...


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

My dogs are on raw, and have eaten whole squirrel or young rabbits (skin and fur and all) that they caught (or rather, that the cats caught, and the dogs grabbed it away from the cats). Never had an issue with binding. 

The first few times, I monitored their poops closely to make sure they kept on schedule and didn't get diarrhea from it, and their poops were 100% normal, so now I don't worry about it at all.


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## TimberGSD2 (Nov 8, 2011)

The BO of the barn I board at also works for the DOT. He will let me know of fresh kill deer on the roadways and will even pick them up for me if he has a chance.


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## Gilly1331 (Apr 16, 2011)

Alot of local DOT's have a list for fresh kills for those who eat/feed it. I've always wanted to sign up for our local DOT list for fresh kills but I don't feel safe dressing it and I can't have tons of deer laying in the yard for the dogs to go at lol. I may try next one thats fresh though. 

If you freeze the roadkill for a period of time will it kill off the bacteria/diseases that could potentially be harmful?


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## Dragonwyke (Jul 21, 2011)

i pick up dead animals quite often. i'm a feather collector so i pick up dead birds, but since i never know how long they've been there, the dogs don't get them. i'm also a bone collector. i also know how to preserve (dry) most body parts of birds. i have whole wings, tails, skulls of owls, crows, and feathers of several different kinds of birds including vultures, crows, owls, woodpeckers, jays, doves, cardinals, etc etc etc. 

it's only a body, the spirit has flown, why waste whats been left behind. it's not needed anymore. if it's fresh enough to eat, then do so. if it's not, there are other uses for the body parts. 

dw~


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

Glad you posted this. Now I don't feel so bad about eyeing that roadkill deer today...


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