Kate Bernot for The Takeout:
California Governor Gavin Newsom must be getting writer’s cramp with all the legislation he’s signed recently. Within the last week, he’s banned school lunch debt shaming, outlawed production of new fur coats, and given Californians the thumbs up on eating roadkill. That latter piece of legislation, Senate Bill 395, makes California the most recent of more than 20 states that allow motorists to salvage and eat animals killed by vehicles—and it’s a great idea.
This feels like an odd thing to celebrate, but I’m happy this has become a law in California. If an animal is struck by a car, that accident shouldn’t be left to waste. That life should be used and used well. I was surprised to learn 20 other states already had this program. I’d heard about these laws before, but hadn’t realized how many states had already adopted them.
Legislative text explaining the pilot program—which will cover three geographic areas known to have high wildlife-vehicle collision rates—say it will “translate into hundreds of thousands of pounds of healthy meat that could be utilized to feed those in need.”
[…]
This all seems like a fine way to ensure that at least some edible meat that would have otherwise gone to waste could now be used to feed Californians. If a motorist hits a deer—or damn, an elk—that could yield enough meat to feed a family throughout much of the year. If the prospect of eating roadkill doesn’t sit right with you, of course, just leave it. Surely one man’s roadkill is another man’s filet mignon.
I hope soon that all 50 states have a program like this. We shouldn’t waste a life.