# Man lives off Roadkill for 30 years. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 18, 2011, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-lives-off-roadkill-for-30-years/600021 "2011-10-18T08:42:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-lives-off-roadkill-for-30-years/600021/1 "2011-10-18T08:42:55Z")
_Rats, mice, foxes, owls, pigeons, moles, snakes and pheasants: the makings of a pleasant episode of Winnie the Pooh, an autumnal diorama of woodland life at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia – or, for one 44-year-old UK man, 30 years worth of dinner._ Huffingtonpost article [here.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/17/jonathan-mcgowan-roadkill_n_1016108.html) [video.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3TMHDAN2KQ) ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-lives-off-roadkill-for-30-years/600021/2 "2011-10-18T09:29:41Z")
UK? Check. 44 years of age? Check. Eats unconventional food? Check. **Mangetout** , is that you? I know it isn’t really because I’ve seen a photo of you, but still… ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-lives-off-roadkill-for-30-years/600021/3 "2011-10-18T09:49:39Z")
I’d like to make a joke here about owls not being roadkill, but I did once kill an owl with my car. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-lives-off-roadkill-for-30-years/600021/4 "2011-10-18T09:59:51Z")
Owls are fairly common roadkill- seen a surprising number recently. Never eaten one though- I’ve had roadkill deer as a kid, I think, but that’s been it. What I haven’t seen as roadkill in the UK is a raccoon- why did they choose to illustrate that article with one? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-lives-off-roadkill-for-30-years/600021/5 "2011-10-18T10:06:20Z")
I think he might have been on a show about sustainable living a few years ago. Although perhaps there’s more than one roadkill culinary enthusiast in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-lives-off-roadkill-for-30-years/600021/6 "2011-10-18T10:34:26Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > Owls are fairly common roadkill- seen a surprising number recently. Never eaten one though- I’ve had roadkill deer as a kid, I think, but that’s been it. > > What I haven’t seen as roadkill in the UK is a raccoon- why did they choose to illustrate that article with one? A stock photo inserted by someone who doesn’t realise raccoons are [not native to the UK, and are still fairly rare](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1186223/Raccoons-snapping-turtles-join-foreign-threat-native-wildlife.html) (although their numbers are growing and they’ve been regarded as an [invasive species](http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/forums/general-wildlife/5582-unusual-and-exotics-uk.html) since 2000.) ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-lives-off-roadkill-for-30-years/600021/7 "2011-10-18T12:12:27Z")
I suppose when you start off with dead adder, everything afterwards has got to be gravy. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-lives-off-roadkill-for-30-years/600021/8 "2011-10-18T14:35:42Z")
Mmmmm . . . rat-atouille. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-lives-off-roadkill-for-30-years/600021/9 "2011-10-18T15:07:58Z")
Ah, yes, \_\_\_\_\_\_, the other white meat. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-lives-off-roadkill-for-30-years/600021/10 "2011-10-18T16:04:47Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > Owls are fairly common roadkill- seen a surprising number recently. You’d think birds would tend to have a built-in defense mechanism against being run over, what with being able to fly and all. I wonder what it is about their behavior that puts them in harm’s way. I was driving in a fairly rural area, early in the morning, and something came flying out of the tall grass beside the road. It was airborne as it hit the front of my car. I always figured it was just a coincidence, but maybe a big, fast moving object triggers that behavior but they’re not fast enough to get out of the way.. > [@chiroptera](#): > > A stock photo inserted by someone who doesn’t realise raccoons are [not native to the UK, and are still fairly rare](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1186223/Raccoons-snapping-turtles-join-foreign-threat-native-wildlife.html) (although their numbers are growing and they’ve been regarded as an [invasive species](http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/forums/general-wildlife/5582-unusual-and-exotics-uk.html) since 2000.) Does anyone know how raccoons were introduced to Great Britain? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-lives-off-roadkill-for-30-years/600021/11 "2011-10-18T16:39:24Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > You’d think birds would tend to have a built-in defense mechanism against being run over, what with being able to fly and all. Not necessarily. I once drove my parents to a marina in coastal Connecticut where we had been invited to spend the day aboard the boat of a family friend. As I was driving into the parking lot, there was a gull sitting in the driveway. I assumed that it would get out of the way so I proceeded forward. But it didn’t. I figured killing a gull was a bad omen (although perhaps not as bad as killing an albatross). So I didn’t mention it to the boat owner friend. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-lives-off-roadkill-for-30-years/600021/12 "2011-10-18T16:54:44Z")
Not small creatures, but in some places where large animals roam and sometimes get hit by cars the meat gets eaten. My dad had a friend who was on a list of people the RCMP called when such an accident occurred, dad had a truck (his friend didn’t). Whoever got there first got the meat, so for a couple years we ate a lot of deer and sometimes moose. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-lives-off-roadkill-for-30-years/600021/13 "2011-10-18T19:50:49Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > … Does anyone know how raccoons were introduced to Great Britain? Articles [such as this](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/5362693/Leopard-cats-and-racoons-could-become-invasive-species-in-UK.html)one [and this one](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1186223/Raccoons-snapping-turtles-join-foreign-threat-native-wildlife.html)suggest that, like boa constrictors and pythons in the Everglades, the raccons in England were pets that have escaped or been “released.” ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-lives-off-roadkill-for-30-years/600021/14 "2011-10-18T19:56:54Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > You’d think birds would tend to have a built-in defense mechanism against being run over, what with being able to fly and all. ? I’ve seen hawks and owls get creamed by cars. So sad. What happens is they are way on one side of the road. They see a mouse/rat/whatever on the other side and go into dive bomb approach mode to get thier prey. Its bad timing where they just happen to be in the same place at the same time as the front of the car zooming down the highway. They are so focused they never notice the car. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-lives-off-roadkill-for-30-years/600021/15 "2011-10-19T02:20:43Z")
It appears [Skink](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_Tyree) has moved to the UK. My husband regularly has to dodge owl suicide attempts while driving to work at night. They hang out on the power pole at the edge of our property by the road and swoop down in front of him as he turns out of the driveway. We get a lot of turkey and pheasant roadkill around here. Living off that and the inevitable tons of roadkill venison wouldn’t be a bad thing. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-lives-off-roadkill-for-30-years/600021/16 "2011-10-19T03:20:55Z")
> [@chiroptera](#): > > A stock photo inserted by someone who doesn’t realise raccoons are [not native to the UK, and are still fairly rare](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1186223/Raccoons-snapping-turtles-join-foreign-threat-native-wildlife.html) (although their numbers are growing and they’ve been regarded as an [invasive species](http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/forums/general-wildlife/5582-unusual-and-exotics-uk.html) since 2000.) As (and if) the raccoon population increases in Britain, they will become more common as roadkill. For whatever reason, raccoons and opposums are what I see most frequently here in Missouri. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-lives-off-roadkill-for-30-years/600021/17 "2011-10-19T04:02:26Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Does anyone know how raccoons were introduced to Great Britain? Probably by stealing freighters and airplanes. They’re smart buggers. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-lives-off-roadkill-for-30-years/600021/18 "2011-10-19T04:20:07Z")
30? That’s a lot of Goodyears. ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-lives-off-roadkill-for-30-years/600021/19 "2011-10-19T04:47:48Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > 30? That’s a lot of Goodyears. You win.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-lives-off-roadkill-for-30-years/600021/20 "2011-10-19T07:16:06Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > UK? Check. > > 44 years of age? Check. > > Eats unconventional food? Check. > > **Mangetout** , is that you? > > I know it isn’t really because I’ve seen a photo of you, but still… LOL. I’ve only eaten roadkill a couple of times. It’s something I intend to do more of this winter (winter is better because there’s a greater chance of it staying fresh until I get to it).