A Texas politician has roadkill on his platform — and wants it on residents’ plates.
Tink Nathan is running against four others for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives, and while they’re all Republicans, Nathan has one very unique agenda: overturn the state’s law against collecting roadkill.
Under the heading, “Tink on the Issues,” on the candidate's website, Nathan said he plans to “revamp the Texas wildlife code to allow people to use road kill deer for human use.”
This goal is listed before his pro-gun, pro-education and pro-border security promises.
While collecting and eating roadkill is legal in some states, Texas banned “engaging in the collection of any animal life on public roads or the right-of-way of public roads” in 2007, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife.
Nathan argued on his Facebook page that in one year, in one Texas county, Department of Transportation employees removed more than 1,400 deer from the roadways, in an operation that was costly to taxpayers.
Plus, “That meat goes to waste. Why not utilize it," he told The Associated Press.
Nathan might have an unlikely ally in his corner. The animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) says on their website that eating roadkill is more humane than eating animals that come from the “slaughter line” because “perhaps the animals never knew what hit them.”
