Idaho’s nearly four-year-old law that allows people to salvage roadkill is surprisingly popular, reports Eric Barker of the Lewiston Tribune. According to an online database maintained by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, more than 4,800 animals have been salvaged from the state’s roadways since the law took effect. That includes 1,996 whitetail deer, 1,405 mule deer, 798 elk and 308 moose.

Salvaging roadkill is most popular in the Panhandle region, where 1,803 animals have been recovered. The Southwest region comes in second with 634 salvages, the Clearwater region is third at 521, followed by the Magic Valley with 480, upper Snake 478, Southeast 447 and the Salmon Region with 356.

“There’s lots of folks taking advantage of it all across the state in all of the regions on all of the highways,” said Gregg Servheen of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game int Boise. “We have like 31,000 roadkill records (in the database). Of those, maybe we have 15 percent that are salvaged.”

Washington law still prohibits picking up road-killed game animals without special permits.

 

Mark Carson, conservation supervisor for the Clearwater region in Lewiston, said there was some worry among conservation officers when the law first hit the books. But, he said, “It puts thousands of pounds of game meat back on the table instead of on the side of the road, which is a really good thing.” You can read Barker’s full report here.

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