Mont. lawmakers approve 'roadkill bill'

HELENA, Mont., April 7 (UPI) -- Montana lawmakers have approved a bill that would allow residents to salvage meat from wild animals accidentally killed on the state's roadways, officials said.

The Montana state Senate approved HB 247, or the "roadkill bill," in March and it is now awaiting review by Gov. Steve Bullock, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The bill would allow some Montana residents -- they would have to apply for a permit -- to take home certain roadkill for food, Republican state Rep. Steve Lavin said.

"There are a lot of animals and a lot of roadway in Montana," Lavin said. "I've had a ton of people ask me after striking a deer or an elk, 'Can I take it?' And I have to say no."

The bill allows people to salvage more than 10 types of animals, including black bears, bighorn sheep and mountain lions.

June Munski-Feenan, the director of the Whitefish food bank in the northwestern Montana, said although it is currently illegal, salvaged road kill helps her feed more people at her shelter.

"We save all the food we can up here," Munski-Feenan said, adding that she hope the bill will be signed into law.

"That would help us quite a bit," she said. "But I don't know how it will go."