'Laziness at its finest': Workers paint lines over roadkill on highway

South-west road users have slammed the "laziness" of workers who painted white lines directly over roadkill on the Princes Highway.

New line markings were being painted on stretches of the Princes Highway near Koroit and Allansford during mid-April 2024.

Concerned road users sent images to The Standard of the paint which tracked right over the bodies of dead animals, including what appears to be a recently deceased fox.

One man, who wished to remain anonymous, said he had seen kangaroos, foxes and koalas "all painted over in the last few weeks around the district".

"I feel it's disrespectful and honestly a disgrace and lazy on behalf of the contractors employed to make the roads safer," he said.

"A full-size animal can't just be painted over as it then creates a hazard to unsuspecting traffic who at night and in the rain follow the lines to know where the road is.

"If you unsuspectingly hit a full-size animal it can have deathly consequences."

The photos were also shared to Facebook with a number of comments criticising why the animals had not been removed by the road workers.

"Laziness at its finest," one person said.

Another person said it was "an accident waiting to happen".

It's not the first time road users have noticed a scene similar to that of Looney Tunes' roadrunner and coyote, with line marking covering a dead fox in North Warrnambool in 2021.

Department of Transport executive director Barwon South West & Grampians Michael Bailey said due to health and personal safety reasons road line-marking crews were unable to move dead animals during operations on busy roads.

"We advise anyone who comes across injured or dead native animals on our road network to call Wildlife Victoria," he said.