spectr17
07-04-2001, 04:05 PM
Woman collects road kill to increase respect for wildlife
July 4, 2001, Associated Press
PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP, Michigan -- Some people collect stamps or coins. A Kent County woman collects road kill.
In the basement of her Plainfield Township home, Lorelle Otis Thomas stores her collection in boxes.
"Look at this poor guy," she said of a withered frog, its front legs upraised. "He was so pretty. He's so twisted."
She has flattened frogs, toads and sun-dried newts and a dozen skulls of deer, cows, coyotes, foxes, beavers and muskrats. "It is a pretty strange thing to be collecting," she admitted.
A few years ago, Thomas offered to participate when the Public Museum of Grand Rapids solicited private collections for its 1998 exhibit Magnificent Obsessions. She filed the rejection letter with her collection.
Thomas' interest in road kill was piqued in the 1970s when she was working in a Montessori nursery and noticed a little girl who tried to stomp every small animal she encountered.
When someone finally asked why, the girl explained: "Because that's the way they always are."
"That's when I started thinking about it," said Thomas, a professor of graphic design at Grand Valley State University. "That's how we relate to our wildlife. It's very distressing that we're moving into every corner of the world, and the animals don't have any room."
"You can tell what animals live in a region by what you see dead. Now that's sad. I'm an animal lover, and the reason I'm doing it is we've become so desensitized to the loss of animals in our environment."
"Many deal with the loss of life by making jokes about road kill," she said, which is why her collection includes not only road kill, but the literature of road kill. She has a road kill cookbook and a photo of a dead raccoon with a road stripe painted over it. She also has a poster from the Roadkill Cafe, "You kill it, we grill it."
She owns a box of Road Kill Pizza "Worth every scent" a bag of road kill jerky, "Finest flavor on America's highways" and a box of Roadkill Helper by Betty Trucker, "Macaroni and sleaze sauce mix. Add roadkill."
"There's a theory about humor that we always laugh at things that make us uncomfortable. Why are we laughing at this? I think it's how we deal with painful things," she said.
Thomas said she doesn't so much go out looking for road kill as "it kind of comes to me," though she conceded, "I have stopped for road kill. I'd find something flattened by the side of the road, and I'd think, why not?"
As word of her hobby spread, other people -- mainly her students -- began bringing her dead animals. "People bring me things in bags and say, 'Don't open it while I'm here," she said. "I think it's a little odd. Some people you bring flowers. Some people you bring candy. You see dead animals, and you think of me."
July 4, 2001, Associated Press
PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP, Michigan -- Some people collect stamps or coins. A Kent County woman collects road kill.
In the basement of her Plainfield Township home, Lorelle Otis Thomas stores her collection in boxes.
"Look at this poor guy," she said of a withered frog, its front legs upraised. "He was so pretty. He's so twisted."
She has flattened frogs, toads and sun-dried newts and a dozen skulls of deer, cows, coyotes, foxes, beavers and muskrats. "It is a pretty strange thing to be collecting," she admitted.
A few years ago, Thomas offered to participate when the Public Museum of Grand Rapids solicited private collections for its 1998 exhibit Magnificent Obsessions. She filed the rejection letter with her collection.
Thomas' interest in road kill was piqued in the 1970s when she was working in a Montessori nursery and noticed a little girl who tried to stomp every small animal she encountered.
When someone finally asked why, the girl explained: "Because that's the way they always are."
"That's when I started thinking about it," said Thomas, a professor of graphic design at Grand Valley State University. "That's how we relate to our wildlife. It's very distressing that we're moving into every corner of the world, and the animals don't have any room."
"You can tell what animals live in a region by what you see dead. Now that's sad. I'm an animal lover, and the reason I'm doing it is we've become so desensitized to the loss of animals in our environment."
"Many deal with the loss of life by making jokes about road kill," she said, which is why her collection includes not only road kill, but the literature of road kill. She has a road kill cookbook and a photo of a dead raccoon with a road stripe painted over it. She also has a poster from the Roadkill Cafe, "You kill it, we grill it."
She owns a box of Road Kill Pizza "Worth every scent" a bag of road kill jerky, "Finest flavor on America's highways" and a box of Roadkill Helper by Betty Trucker, "Macaroni and sleaze sauce mix. Add roadkill."
"There's a theory about humor that we always laugh at things that make us uncomfortable. Why are we laughing at this? I think it's how we deal with painful things," she said.
Thomas said she doesn't so much go out looking for road kill as "it kind of comes to me," though she conceded, "I have stopped for road kill. I'd find something flattened by the side of the road, and I'd think, why not?"
As word of her hobby spread, other people -- mainly her students -- began bringing her dead animals. "People bring me things in bags and say, 'Don't open it while I'm here," she said. "I think it's a little odd. Some people you bring flowers. Some people you bring candy. You see dead animals, and you think of me."