Q: What happens to carcasses of animals – deer hit by cars, bears that lose on “two strikes and you’re out” and are euthanized, etc.? Are they cremated? Buried? Fed to carnivores?
A: According to the Colorado Department of Transportation, if a pet is killed on a state highway, CDOT tries to contact the owner so the owners can retrieve the body of the animal. If wildlife in a rural area die, the animals are moved off the highway and left out of sight in a ditch to decompose. If the animal is found in an urban area, it is discarded in a dump.
Each jurisdiction handles its own disposal through the sheriff’s or animal control departments. The individual county or city would have to be contacted for their specific means of disposal. For example, Jefferson County takes the animals to the Table Mountain Animal Center. If it is a pet, it is held for seven days and then incinerated if not picked up. Larger animals are also incinerated unless they are found in the mountains or rural areas, where they are taken to the side of the road and left out of sight to decompose.
The Division of Wildlife often uses the hide and skull of such animals for educational purposes.
A bear with two strikes will have a necropsy performed to see if there was a reason it behaved oddly. After the necropsy is performed, what is not used for educational purposes will be incinerated or sometimes taken to a lab in Fort Collins for the digester, a chemical tank for animal remains.
Sources: Colorado Department of Transportation; Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office (www.co.jefferson.co.us/sheriff/sheriff_T62_R29.htm); Colorado Division of Wildlife
Q: Coming back from Black Hawk, I’ve noticed that at the intersection of U.S. 6 and Colorado 58 in Golden, there is a very bright intense blue light next to the traffic signals. What is this for? I don’t see them at other intersections.
A: The tiny blue lights that most motorists never notice help police see those who run red lights. The idea is to stop aggressive driving. Placed on the back of, or near, traffic signals, the lights are not camera monitors or photo-enforcement or electronic-surveillance systems. Golden has several of the lights located in areas that have high accident rates and complaints.
Arvada and Jefferson County also have used the lights.
Source: Denver Post archives
Compiled by Bonnie Gilbert
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