(Photo courtesy of MoDOT)
Dead deer along the side of the road is grabbing the attention of some Missouri lawmakers. Bipartisan bills have been filed that are designed to get rid of large roadkill along Missouri’s roads and highways.
State Rep. Paula Brown is proposing to require MoDOT to remove dead deer and have them buried on Department of Conservation land.
“Typically, MoDOT when they’re cleaning up areas, will just take the dead deer and throw them either way off the shoulder or like into the right-of-way. What I learned was you can still see them and our constituents don’t want to see them,” she said.
Brown said she talked to the Missouri Department of Conservation four years ago about the state’s roadkill.
“We got them to clean them up with help of MoDOT, but it was a one time thing. They never did it again,” said Brown. “I don’t know that we have to have legislation on it, but we couldn’t seem to get anybody’s attention without it.”
The work could be contracted out to a private company.
“While I’m not always happy that we use state money to pay private companies, we do it to fix roads and bridges. We do it for lots of different things,” she said. “And so, we have said, ‘If you feel like you need to contract this out, we’re not opposed to that.’”
State Rep. Kent Haden, R-Mexico, is sponsoring a similar bill.
A Missouri House committee is considering the bills. Brown’s is House Bill 501. Haden’s is House Bill 404.
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