Deer Carcasses Piled Up; Neighbors Ticked OffMinor Charges Possible Against Man Who Collects Roadkill For PennDOTPOSTED: 10:16 pm EST November 16,
2009 BUFFALO TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Rotting deer carcasses collected by an Armstrong County man who's contracted to remove them from southwestern Pennsylvania roadways have angered some neighbors. Now local officials are considering what to do about it.Randy Good, whose job it is to collect dead deer left on roads, said there have been so many that he's overwhelmed."I never seen that many deer there at one time," North Buffalo Township Supervisor Paul Kirkwood said of the scene on Sportsman Road.Video:
 Watch Jon Greiner's ReportGood has a contract with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to pick up dead deer in five counties. He said he's been picking up 50 or more a day."We've gotten over 900 deer in the last two weeks, and ... I've never got anything close to that," Good said.Boone is required to take the carcasses to approved landfills, which are closed on the weekend. So, in order to use his truck to pick up the new ones, he's been discarding the old ones -- a couple hundred of them -- onto his yard."We had a truck break down at the same time, and by the time the weekend overflow built up because of the truck being down, well, you see the results," Good said.Stacy Kriedeman, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, said the dead deer aren't considered a health hazard."While the smell may be a nuisance, there is no health threat or threat of communicable disease," Kriedeman said.But the stench of the carcasses is so overwhelming, neighbors a half-mile away have burned candles in their homes to mask the odor."It's terrible. You can't go outside at night," neighbor Dallas Bryan said. "Tonight, we're lucky. It isn't bad. Every now and then, the wind blows or we get a breeze and you can smell it, but there are a lot of nights we'll let the dog out, you don't even want to open the door to let him out."Good has secured a Dumpster that he said will help him get the deer off his property quicker. He said he's trying as hard as he can, but it's likely all the deer will not be off his property for at least a couple of weeks.Channel 4 Action News' Marcie Cipriani spoke to the police chief and two other supervisors in North Buffalo Township. They said a summary charge of disorderly conduct may be filed, as well as possible zoning violations against Good."We spoke to the DA's office. He currently wishes to file a summary citation first, and if it's not taken care of, we'll go with a misdemeanor of a public nuisance," police Chief Jason Hufhand said.PennDOT spokesman Harold Swan said the department does not regulate where the deer must go between the time they're removed from a road and taken to a landfill.While Swan said he understands neighbors' concerns, he also said there is little PennDOT can do except withhold Good's pay until he fulfills the contract's final request.
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