It's a shame that a population of animals can be deemed as being healthy by counting the number of dead specimens on the side of the road. Although Polecats have succesfully recovered in numbers over the past couple of decades, and are reported to be quite numerous in our area, I have only seen one live example. Ironically that was running across the A40 in front of my car at a spot where I have picked up two dead ones.
This individual was killed less than a mile from the house. The body was sent to the Vincent Trust for identity confirmation during their Polecat Study and was confirmed as being a true Polecat and not a domestic polecat/ferret.
24-70mm at long end
1/50th @ f6.3
Posted by David Sewell on March 25, 2010 at 5:52 PM
A good piece of photo-journalism, Robert. There seem to be a lot of victims at the edge of the road at present.
Good picture. It's that time of year again. Polecats are doing really well. I thought it was interesting that some doctors wanted to ban smoking in cars because of all the health implications but didn't mention banning cars.
Posted by John Chapman on March 26, 2010 at 5:27 AM
Hi Robert, sad story it is the same with Badgers up my way.
Posted by Kim Connolly on March 26, 2010 at 7:19 AM
Very sad but an excellent piece of photography.
Posted by David Taylor on March 26, 2010 at 10:47 AM
A trade off with Nature for one of the conveniences of modern living. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Millions of invertebrates are killed everyday as well. I remember Broderick Crawford
the star of 'Highway Patrol' from the '50s saying 'It's not the car that kills, its the driver', I've never forgotten it.
a striking image Robert. Not pleasant to see but it documents the problem very well.
If I was being really, really, picky I might question why the car has its indicator on since there doesn't seem to be a left hand turn (unless it's out of shot). It wouldn't be your car parked with the hazards on would it by any chance?
Well spotted Matt. Yes it's the missus car with the hazards on. As there is very little traffic on that particular lane I would have had to wait for ages for a car to pass so I just pulled up in front and put all the lights on for emphasis. I remember nearly causing an accident a few years back doing a similar thing with a badger on a busy main road . I lay on the verge with a wideangle and photographed the corpse with traffic passing. One driver nearly had a fit when he came around the bend and saw me stretched out, must have thought I was the corpse! Since then I've been a bit more cautious.
Discussion
9 repliesThis individual was killed less than a mile from the house. The body was sent to the Vincent Trust for identity confirmation during their Polecat Study and was confirmed as being a true Polecat and not a domestic polecat/ferret.
24-70mm at long end
1/50th @ f6.3
David
Millions of invertebrates are killed everyday as well.
the star of 'Highway Patrol' from the '50s saying 'It's not the car that kills, its the driver', I've never forgotten it.
Terry
If I was being really, really, picky I might question why the car has its indicator on since there doesn't seem to be a left hand turn (unless it's out of shot). It wouldn't be your car parked with the hazards on would it by any chance?
Matt