TIMES ARE TOUGH

Montana Senate Passes Roadkill Salvage Bill

Why waste a perfectly good moose?

Who says you can’t eat roadkill? Like most states, Montana either destroys its roadkill or leaves it to rot. Not for long. On Thursday the state Senate passed a bill allowing residents to salvage large animals—like elk, moose, deer, and antelope—killed by cars for food. The bill puts the state Fish, Wildlife, and Parks department in charge of regulating which dead animals can be salvaged. Opponents, such as Sen. Kendall Van Dyk, are questioning the safety of eating an animal left for dead on the highway. “Are highway patrolmen and law-enforcement experts in meat inspection?” he asked. Fans of the bill point to the fact that animals killed through hunting do not undergo food-safety inspections to prove they are safe.