I can vouch for
the Roadkill Book.
I sent it to my daughter in Scotland for her
birthday this year and she was stoked.
Emma is big on road kill jewellery, and her echidna nose
piercing was much admired at Cornell University when she
accompanied her parents on a visit a few years ago, as was her
'something or other' animal fur vest (don't even go there). She
assures me the bodies were buried with due pomp and ceremony
close to where they were found dead on the road in Tassie.
Judie
*Judith Rawling*
*Managing Director*
*UBM Ecological Consultants*
Building P5, Yarramundi Road, University of Western Sydney, (PO
BOX 652), RICHMOND, NSW, 2753
When I was at university my lecturer encouraged us all to read R.M.Knutson's book /Flattened Fauna: A field guide to common
animals of
roads, streets and highways/. Whilst reading this book I
thought, I
should do an Australian equivalent (/Flattened Fauna/ is US
based). Well
as the old saying goes, he who hesitates is lost and Len Zell
has beaten
me to it. /Roadkill/ is an easy read, a book that can be knocked
over in
a couple of hours. In writing his book, Len hopes that, through
either
shock or information, it will help people to reduce their impact
on our
native fauna by driving differently (i.e. to the conditions we
find
ourselves in). Len believes that, as a species, we are
intelligent, but
by continuing to treat our wildlife as we do, we prove we are
very
stupid. Len comments that planning the prevention of road kills
by road
builders is a major budget and political consideration, interest
in
minimizing vehicle strikes being supported and investigated by
government agencies, insurance companies, car manufactures,
consultants
and conservationists alike. The book includes a series of good
quality
photographs of vehicle struck animals, these covering all the
main fauna
groups (including one I never consider, the invertebrates).
For
those
inclined, descriptions of characteristic features to assist with
identifying a road kill at least down to Genus level are
included. Also
featured are recipes on how to prepare a tasty dish from a fresh
road
kill, road kill statistics, road kill websites, equipment to
keep in the
car to collect/examine and photograph your road kill,
interesting road
kill anecdotes, useful guidebooks and so on. The book is touted
as being
a hilarious account of this topic, though I didn't find this to
be the
case. I will say it was humorous in a tongue-in-cheek way and
did
achieve its aim at highlighting the impact(s) we are having on
our
wildlife as we traversing their environments (including our
oceans -
propeller killed turtles and run over whales feature). It's a
book you'd
keep next to your toilet so your friends can read it and get a
conversation going. I note the book doesn't deal with road kill
plants,
therefore unlikely to grab the interest of those botanists
amongst us. I
personally can account for at least four native trees that are
now dead
and numerous shrubs that no longer grace this planet…. A
possible book
in the making??????
Deryk Engel
Principal LesryK Environmental Consultants
PO Box 3001 BUNDEENA NSW 2230
