Road kill: The raccoon summer

I’m going to call this the “Raccoon Summer.” Every time I’ve put my bike on the road the past three months, I’ve seen at least one of the dead critters. On long rides, I’ve been spotting three or four of them. Once, I saw three carcasses all in a line, as if they were in a raccoon paceline when some vehicle hit them. The number of dead raccoons I’ve seen this summer outnumbers the total I’ve seen in my last 40 years on this planet. It’s strange and breaks my heart because they’re cool creatures. They wash their food. They have stylish markings – the bandit eyes and striped tails.

I thought the dead raccoons were just a phenomenon in the Kansas City area, where I’ve done most of my riding this summer. But now I’m training in southeastern Michigan, and I’m seeing them here, too. Perhaps, there’s been an explosion in the raccoon population. According to the Wildlife Removal Blog, opossums are common road kill but raccoons are relatively rare, possibly because they don’t breed quickly.

What’s really sad is seeing the same animal rotting away in the middle of the road for two to three days. Where are the coyotes when you need them? I think I’m going to start riding with an extra plastic bag in my jersey pocket so that I can put it over my hand while I drag the dead raccoons off the road.