*This is a repost from August of 2015. But it's still a good roadkill story.
We were on the way home from the Churchtown garage sales when we spotted a road kill. My family knows I stop for road kills. We have found and studied a crane, a coyote, hawks, an owl, a squirrel, a pheasant, and now a near-perfect rabbit.
There were only two problems. The rabbit’s head was squashed, and it reeked. Unfortunately, prime time for acquiring road kills is first thing in the morning, and this was the afternoon. Its coat was gorgeous. “Stuff it in this plastic bag,” I told my youngest son as he picked it up by the leg. “They won’t be able to smell it if we tie the bag up tight.” As we walked back to the car we twisted the top of the plastic bag around several times and then jumped back in the car. Immediately the entire car smelled like a dead rabbit which had lain by the side of the road baking in the sun for eight hours. I hastily rolled down all the windows and looked over at my husband. He was holding his nose making a horrible face, but he didn’t tell us to get rid of it. We had less than a mile home. I accelerated to the speed limit and just kept going.
We were on the way home from the Churchtown garage sales when we spotted a road kill. My family knows I stop for road kills. We have found and studied a crane, a coyote, hawks, an owl, a squirrel, a pheasant, and now a near-perfect rabbit.
There were only two problems. The rabbit’s head was squashed, and it reeked. Unfortunately, prime time for acquiring road kills is first thing in the morning, and this was the afternoon. Its coat was gorgeous. “Stuff it in this plastic bag,” I told my youngest son as he picked it up by the leg. “They won’t be able to smell it if we tie the bag up tight.” As we walked back to the car we twisted the top of the plastic bag around several times and then jumped back in the car. Immediately the entire car smelled like a dead rabbit which had lain by the side of the road baking in the sun for eight hours. I hastily rolled down all the windows and looked over at my husband. He was holding his nose making a horrible face, but he didn’t tell us to get rid of it. We had less than a mile home. I accelerated to the speed limit and just kept going.
Once we arrived home he ordered my son to get out of the car as soon as it had stopped. I began unloading the car as my son deposited the rabbit in the grass under a tree, then ran and grabbed a utility knife and the gas mask my husband uses to apply stinky varnish. By the time I made it back to the car to unload some free stuff I had gotten, my son had begun to cut the skin down the middle of the rabbit’s underside and he was calling for help. He said it was dirty. It was dirty indeed -- its underside was full of maggots. I looked at that beautiful coat of fur, held my breath so I wouldn’t smell the awful stink, tried not to think about all those maggots, and decided it was worth it. I ran and grabbed the hose, but alas, as I was squirting off the dead, stinky rabbit, its skin began peeling off along with all those maggots. Evidently the underside of the rabbit had baked somewhat on the hot pavement.
So, that day we learned that roadkills need to be picked up before 3:00 p.m. on a hot summer day.