Road Kill

[MonElite]

Coming back from the snow we unfortunatelly run over a rabbit.

It died under the wheels of the car instantly. :p

I said to the friend - stop I will take it and give it to the dog to eat, hubby and friend said, dont it might be full of worms or deseases and your dog might get something by eating it.

What do you think? is a roadkill rabbit safe to give to the dog to eat?

BTW we didnt take it.

[MolassesLass]

I wouldn't, for the same reasons as hubby and friend. It is recommended not to feed wild kangaroo or pig due to the hyatid worms and so I'd say rabbits could have similar problems.

It would be tempting though! :p

[sidoney]

I've eaten wild rabbits myself and fed them to the dogs also - used to do a bit of shooting (only feral animals). I always take road kill. If you check the rabbit liver it should give an indicator of whether it's clean or not. Chuck the guts, check the liver, feed the muscle meat, you should be OK. I regularly use hydatid wormers anyway.

I skin road kill rabbits and keep the skins - got one hanging in the garage right now - great for putting over dumbells, gundog dummies, that sort of thing.

[Purple Julie]

I havee wondered about roadkill too. I'm not sure about rabbit, it could have some diseases or worms in it, so I'd be scared to risk it.

Kangaroo, however, I wonder about. The roo shooters shoot wild kangaroo and it is sold for food, so I think roo roadkill would be okay, but then only if it were fresh and when you drive past the dead roos, you don't know how fresh they are (that sounds terrible!). So I think roo roadkill might be okay if you were there when the roo died and you know that it is fresh. But I think you might be more concerned about the damage to your car!!

[MolassesLass]

Sidoney - what does a healthy liver look like or what are the nasties to look out for?

[fidelis Border Collies]

Kangaroo, however, I wonder about. The roo shooters shoot wild kangaroo and it is sold for food, so I think roo roadkill would be okay, but then only if it were fresh and when you drive past the dead roos, you don't know how fresh they are (that sounds terrible!).

I think you could tell by the smell how fresh it it :p :D

[sidoney]

As the liver is the body's filter, it tends to accumulate things like hydatid cysts. Liver flukes also live in the liver. If you check the liver for lumps and bumps and there are none, and it's that dark red brown colour, you should be right. You can also cut into the liver to check the large veins that are in the liver for parasites. In my experiences with rabbits, I can't honestly think of any occasion where we found a parasite ridden rabbit.

Insides of animals can be interesting to look at. Sometimes you might find rabbit foetuses in the uterus, strung out like peas in a pod, that is interesting for those who find these things interesting.

Most rabbit diseases such as myxo don't transfer into other animals (it's some parasites you need to watch for); allegedly they are safe to eat even with myxo. I woudn't do it though. I went on a school excursion to the Snowy Mtns many years ago and there were many rabbits dying of myxo - horrid. Didn't do much to the population though. Some years later I regularly drove between Adaminably and Tumut and it was, truly, impossible to do the drive without hitting at least one rabbit.

Edited August 23, 2005 by sidoney

[fidelis Border Collies]

Greg Dave's son was driving to my place along Chambers Flat Road a few months ago and saw a roo which had been hit by a car it was in pain with its eye hanging out and a very broken Leg.

Greg raced home and got Dave and went back and Dave put it out of its misery. Why the person who hit it left it is beyond me. it was in the morning light and the roo was still on the road. Makes you wonder doesn't it

Tracey

[sidoney]

They do leave them. It wasn't that long ago that I saw a wombat on the road - not been there long, as I'd gone the opposite direction previously. When I checked it, it was a male and very dead - but it could easily have been alive and in pain.

[espinay2]

Well, those same wild rabbits are shot, dressed and sold at the butchers (for a fortune!). But, you should check them before feeding them whole (as sidoney has mentioned).

In the US we used to regularly collect roadkill deer for the wolves (people used to ring and tell the facility about fresh kills - most often the police). Most places there needed a special permit to collect roadkill.

[persephone]

: :p A road kill rabbit would probably have the intestines squashed, and spread nicely thru the interior cavity.The smell alone would put you off doing it again !!! (from experience :D )

Eeewwwwww

AFAIK, it is illegal to remove roadkill native animals, OR put them out of their misery..apparently they are supposed to be taken to a vet!!

(no, i never have!!)

[Koza]

I don't thik it's safe, though very temping! When we were in Dabbo zoo, a giraffe died a night before, from a storm. The keeper said, it's not easy to dispose it. So we naturally asked, don't they feed it to their animals? Apparently, they consider it's not safe to feed even that giraffe, bred in zoos for a few generations.

[bully36]

I am the odd one out here I know but I take the dead roos, rabbits etc off the road and put them on the side so they dont get squashed.

I am an animal lover and I rescue native animals so I hate to see anything killed.

Oh and I dont eat meat.

[MolassesLass]

Cheers Sidoney :p

Very useful, not that I get much roadkill around my way anyhow.

[pug rescue victoria]

Bully, I'm with you!

[espinay2]

Feeding whole animals (or even parts such as the Giraffe) in zoos can be a tricky issue, not necessarily because the meat is 'not safe' but because of the public and PR factor.

Truth is, most members of the public do not take well to the sight of a Lion chowing down on a piece of giraffe neck or leg, not matter how natural it is (shocked me that they didn't when I first worked in Zoos here - the one I worked at chose to feed meat and bone, but would not feed large ungulates whole or with the skin on because of the negative reations they had from the public when they did it. the only thing they fed whole were rabbits and mice which they raised and killed themselves).

There is also the consideration that the giraffe may have been medicated and would still have that medication in its system. That is something you dont want to be feeding.

Edited August 23, 2005 by espinay2

[gareth]

Gawd, when I was a kid my Pop used to go out shooting roos and bunnies and feed leftovers to the dogs.

Dogs were in great shape. I'll never forget the way he used to chop off the rabbits heads before skinning them and throw the heads to the dogs to eat :p

[Miranda]

When I lived in the country my dogs used to hunt, kill and eat rabbits, especially young ones which were easier to catch...........I'll never forget those poos full of fur :p None of them had any health problems although of course they were wormed regularly. I don't think dogs would have a problem with roadkill, but I don't think I'd pick it up unless my car had been the one to run over it, at least then you'd know it was fresh.

[fifi]

:D the local shooters sometimes leave me fresh rabbit kills for the dogs, but they only shoot on large properties that don't bait with 1080. I think thats a huge factor in me not picking up fresh road kill, many farms in the district bait :D

and that road kill may have been slow due to poisoning. So be very careful, I'm not sure what margin of toxin the bunnies would have injested, but any 1080 is to much.

Also the local farmers will let me know when they are killing sheep or cattle for thier own coolrooms, and I'll pop over with huge plastic tubs and pick up the very meaty bones. (and the more beer they consume while butchering, the meatier the bones :D )

I'm a vegie too, but my doggies love their 'dead' things!!

fifi

[Mana]

I've been wondering about this too - isn't 1080 dog and fox poison? I thought the sign on a property down the road for us said that dog baits of 1080 had been laid there... or is 1080 a bunny killer?

And skewing off topic a little [sorry]... - but another reason to check roadkill - not only for freshness if you're prepared to turn it into cuisine de la dog, but also for small inhabitants...

(People drive horribly fast along our road - this fella's mum was killed shortly before we drove past... apparently he's now thriving and hopefully will come back to us for release. :D)