By WILL KANGAS
April 27, 2012
MASON — Unfortunately, not every deer, raccoon or chicken safely crosses the road.
A new county program may help with the unpleasant result of those attempts, as Ingham County Sheriff Gene L. Wriggelsworth announced Friday.
The new program will be part of sentencing for offenders that are mandated to perform community service in the Ingham County District Court. The option will be to help pick up animal remains on county and city roads.
“I thought of this as a way to assist judges in giving them an option for dealing with minor offenders,” Wriggelsworth said. “On the flip side it will help clean our roads.”
No pun intended.
D.A.R.T., or the Dead Animal Recovery Team, will use a a special trailer that will be equipped with scoop shovels, gloves and reflector vests. Wriggelsworth said no highways will be used for this program.
Those sentenced to do this will be supervised by a volunteer deputy from the department’s mounted or motor units division, who will drive the vehicle and pull the trailer.
Wriggelsworth said both 55th District Court Judges Thomas Boyd and Donald Allen are excited about the new options for their sentencing practices.
“I don’t know exactly how much work will be needed but I saw two road kills on the way in to the office today,” he said. Wriggelsworth said the program will run on Saturdays for now and that he will monitor how much work needs to be done to see if there are opportunities to expand.
Animal carcasses that are recovered will be disposed of at the Granger, Inc. landfill.
“Granger has been very helpful with this,” Wriggelsworth said. “Disposing of the animals isn’t cheap.”
He said the current practice is to do nothing. If the carcass is a road hazard Ingham County Animal Control is called, but other than that the remains are left to birds and other scavengers.
The D.A.R.T. trailer and equipment were paid for by inmates from the Inmate Booking Fee account, an account that all inmates have to pay when lodged at the jail. The fee is $12.
Citizens can report dead animals by calling (517) 676-8220 and leave a message as to the location. The animal carcass reporting line will be available for messages 24 hours a day.
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