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Illinois' road kill for sale

By Arnold Wyrick

CARBONDALE, IL(KFVS) - The next time you run over an animal in Illinois, you might want to pick it up and sale it. That is if it's the right kind of animal and you have the proper paperwork.

It's now legal to pickup 'road kill' and sell the animals pelt to a fur trader.

"As long as they have a hunting license or a trapping license and a habitat stamp," said Officer Kris Taylor with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. " And the species they are picking up has to be in season. No matter or not if it's a raccoon, a fox or a beaver it does have to be in season."

And before a fur trader is going to offer you anything for the animal pelt, it's going to have to be in good shape.

"As far as the money goes you have raccoons, muskrats and coyotes things like that, you're talking upwards of $20 a pelt for certain species," said Louie Glidewell a trapper and fur trader in Southern Illinois. "But you can't bring a flattened bloody critter to a fur trader and expect a premium price for it. And there's certain steps you have to take to prepare the hide in order to get that premium price."

Glidewell says you also have to take extra precautions when cleaning and skinning an animal to ensure that you don't get certain diseases.

"I always wear gloves and I wash-up immediately. I even hose out the floor of my cleaning house to keep down on any problems."

Police say you also have to be cautious when picking up any animals alongside the road.

"That is one of our biggest concerns with the new law, is for people picking them up not only for themselves but also for the other people driving along the roadway. They need to notice that people are out and about,"said Officer Taylor. "And you need to use some common sense and watch traffic before walking onto the roadway to pickup an animal."