WDFW: Washingtonians Now Free to Salvage Roadkill

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Thanks to a recent decision by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission, Washingtonians will soon have an alternate option to rubbernecking at tire-tracked roadkill.

They can now stop and pick it up, and even eat it if they want to.

Beginning in July, it will no longer be illegal to salvage dead animals from roads across Washington. The only exception is that roadkill deer may not be salvaged in Cowlitz, Wahkiakum or Clark counties. Those counties are home to sparse populations of the federally endangered Columbian white-tailed deer. Officials hope that excluding those counties from the law will eliminate the temptation for drivers to wantonly, and illegally, hit and/or harvest one of the endangered animals.

Everywhere, all roadkill is now, literally, free game.

The decision to open up road kill to the resourceful public was made on April 8 at a Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting in Olympia. Washington had been one of only a handful of states in the union that deemed roadkill salvage as an illegal act. In a few short months, that prohibition on pulverized pavement protein will be over.

Provisions of the new rule include a number of safety clauses and permitting requirements. First of all, a roadkill animal must have been unintentionally struck by a motor vehicle to be eligible for salvage. As always, shooting from the roadway or from a vehicle is illegal.

Any person salvaging a deer or elk must contact the WDFW within 24 hours in order to obtain a salvage permit. Big game licenses and tags are not applicable to roadkill salvaging purposes.

People stopping to salvage a roadkill animal must also make sure to retrieve the entire carcass, including entrails and all carrion, from the roadway and right of way. Similarly, any meat or animal parts deemed to be unusable or unfit for human consumption must be disposed of in accordance with Washington law.

Salvaging and consuming roadkill animals is an activity undertaken at the risk of the individual. The WDFW offers no guarantees on the safety of consuming meat harvested with a salvage permit.

Again, wounding an animal with the intent of a salvage harvest is still illegal under Washington law, and only authorized entities such as law enforcement may euthanize an animal that has been non-fatally wounded in a traffic collision. Any person found to be in possession of roadkill wildlife that does not meet these regulatory requirements will be subject to prosecution under state law.

To aqcuire a salvage permit or learn more about the rules of roadkill salvaging in Washington, visit the WDFW webpage at http://wdfw.wa.gov/licensing/game_salvaging/.