Road Kill

This time of year is extremely rough on the wildlife in my area. On the way to Tijuana on the Skykomish, you can see all kinds of unfortunate critters who have met their demise by automobile. Just between my hometown and where I work (5 miles) yesterday I counted four. They are predominately raccoons.

Today on my way to work, about a mile and a half from work I came upon three live raccoons standing in the middle of the highway. Traveling at 50+ mph did not give me or them time to avoid each other and I ran over two of them. As my headlights hit them, one lumbered off into the incoming lane while the other two just milled about in the center of my lane. Thump bump crunch!

Road Kill.

Now I feel bad about hitting them as I wished them no ill, but it goes to show that without any natural enemies in the area, the coon population is very heavy, forcing them into urban areas. In my own backyard I have seen, opossum, deer, squirrels, and raccoons, which by the way built a nest and had their young in the attic of one of my storage buildings. I have even seen a coyote running down the street in the early morning hours on my way to work.

In the spirit of Halloween, I leave you with this picture of the un-dead.

Scary huh!