Sep 27, 2007 2:11 pm US/Eastern
Crew Paints Over Roadkill Raccoon In Illinois
LEMONT, Ill. (CBS) ―
A photograph sent to CBS stattion WBBM-TV in Chicago shows a raccoon dead in the middle of a Lemont street, and yellow stripes painted right over its body by road crews.
As WBBM-TV West Suburban Bureau Chief Mike Puccinelli reports, the outraged viewer who sent in the photograph was not the only one upset by the incident.
"There was a dead raccoon here kind of where you see this black mark and it was dead and when they were striping the road they just striped right over it," said Sylvia Wilk of unincorporated Lemont.
The raccoon was gone Wednesday but photographs clearly show the dead animal with the telltale yellow paint right across its body.
"It was very real and it was pretty explicit," Sylvia Wilk. "The kids were kind of grossed out by it, and I as well. It's a dead animal in the street and they just striped it right over."
The animal was first spotted on Archer Avenue in Lemont by residents on Saturday.
"I just thought it was ridiculous that they were that lazy and that they didn't pick it up," said Lemont resident Kyle Cuiching.
"That's terrible," said Jolanta Wilk. "It is terrible how they do their job."
And Jolanta Wilk says what's worse is that it's not the first time. She says another animal was painted over in a similar case.
WBBM-TV followed her directions on Archer Avenue. A close-up of the site reveals what appears to be the critter's tail protruding from a line of paint.
The Illinois Department of Transportation confirmed this stretch of Archer Avenue is in their jurisdiction, but they declined our request for an on-camera interview, saying it would be premature to go on until they can confirm the allegations are true.
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