dead bird

[stevej37]

Biking on a trail through a swampy area today. A bird (small..but not a swallow) decides to fly in front of me and goes straight into the front wheel spokes.
It is trying, but can't get out. I stop and pull the thing out and set it on the ground.

It's obvious the thing won't fly again...it can't work the one wing.

So..I did what I thought was right and stepped on it.

Would I have been better to just let it go and hope it healed??

[hcoles]

You did the reasonable thing. Maybe 1% chance it would have made it. Why have it suffer for a few more hours until a hawk accomplished what you did.

[KFC911]

I would have done the same thing .... and yes, I would have second guessed myself, but you did the right thing.

[stevej37]

It's a strange thing...but I feel a lot worse about doing something like that on a trail through their area than I do if it happened in my own yard.

[Rusty Heap]

I don't see bikes in the list, nor shoe, so you're good.

[Noah930]

You did the right thing. You did what you did out of compassion.

I had a roommate back in grad school. He told a story of a mutual friend who was driving down the road one day, and a cat darted out in front of his car. He thought he hit the cat and pulled over. When he got out of the car, sure enough there was a cat, 4 paws in the air on the sidewalk. It was breathing, so he went into his trunk, retrieved a tire iron, and went to work putting the cat out of its misery. Or so he thought.

A woman came screaming out of the house. "You killed my cat! You killed my cat!" He tried to explain that he was so sorry, but that he was merely trying to end its suffering. She then directed his attention to the front grill of the car, into which the cat he had actually hit was embedded. Turns out that woman's cat was just taking a nap on the sidewalk, as he regularly did.

[billybek]

Originally Posted by noah930

you did the right thing. You did what you did out of compassion.

I had a roommate back in grad school. He told a story of a mutual friend who was driving down the road one day, and a cat darted out in front of his car. He thought he hit the cat and pulled over. When he got out of the car, sure enough there was a cat, 4 paws in the air on the sidewalk. It was breathing, so he went into his trunk, retrieved a tire iron, and went to work putting the cat out of its misery. Or so he thought.

A woman came screaming out of the house. "you killed my cat! You killed my cat!" he tried to explain that he was so sorry, but that he was merely trying to end its suffering. She then directed his attention to the front grill of the car, into which the cat he had actually hit was embedded. Turns out that woman's cat was just taking a nap on the sidewalk, as he regularly did.

omfg!

[Venetian]

As I get older killing things becomes very difficult. I had to kill a mouse a couple of weeks ago that was partially trapped but very much alive. It bothered me even though I use to hunt quite a bit in my younger days. Even the odd bee or spider that gets into the house I try and catch and release.

[RM512]

Ran over a chipmunk. Wasn't pretty....

[Scott Douglas]

I recall driving home one night when I lived up in Mendocino County on a vineyard. I came upon a young lady who'd stopped in the middle of the road (Hwy 128 just west of Cloverdale). She'd hit a fawn that was laying by the side of the road. It was a dark section of road and it was raining. No chance for her to miss it. I pulled over and told her to go on her way, I'd take care of it.
I got a ball peen hammer out of my tool box in the trunk and dispatched the fawn who had an obviously broken back. It surprised me how porcelain like its skull was. I left the fawn down in the ditch by the side of the road for the road kill crew to clean up.
Not a fun night for me but I knew it had to be done.

We get the occasional bird flying into our glass doors. Had a morning dove crash into them one time. Amazing how light weight those birds are for their size. It died in my hands of a broken neck.

[stevej37]

When I was a teen, our living room had three floor to ceiling windows.
Walking into the room one morning and the center one shattered.
A partridge was laying on the carpet bleeding.
My father quickly took care of it and we ate it for dinner that night!

[shadowjack1]

Not ten mins ago A bird killed it self on my back widow.

[porsche tech]

Years ago our golden retriever was whining on the back porch so I let her in without paying attention. A few minutes later I see the half dead, mangled bird on the floor. I did the same thing you did…and still remember it 40 years later!

[osidak]

i have been freaked out latey as i have had many close encounters with birds.

I have killed two with my car.... feathers flying and limp bodies tumbling on the ground.... one bird i am sure i hit.... though my son says no because we didnt hear anything and i didnt see a body

and then i was walking in an outdoor mall and a bird flew right at me. if i didnt sidestep it would flown right into me and could of easily reached out and grabbed it....

then yesterday i was going to turn the hose on to was my girlfriends car and she yell whats that... i turned and looked down it it was a dead bird.....

[porsche930dude]

A bird flew into my garage max speed and smashed into the back door window. Layed there lifeless for 5 minutes then woke up panting with blood dripping out of his mouth for 20 minutes. I go to bring it outside and it takes off up onto a shelf where he sits for another 20 minutes no longer panting. Eventually he flew out and seemed fine.

[Rapewta]

You did the right thing. We all hate watching living things die. Quickly getting rid of the animals misery is ok.
Birds don't do good once beaten down. I had a robin that couldn't fly and it died on me on the way to a animal help clinic.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

I found a baby owl in my house in Italy, just hopping about under a couch in our living room

Didn't know what to do with it so I took it to work in a cardboard box

Man, oh man a baby owl is million x more effective than a puppy in attracting gorgeous looking women as so many came to see me that morning

I felt quite sad putting it through the paper shredder as it was very cute.........joke, that was a joke! The local wildlife charity came and collected it

[tabs]

I couldnt.even kill a mouse that found its way into my house. I helped find its way out and last saw it running across my patio.

[Noah930]

We had a recent mouse problem in our attic. I had no problem setting up (and collecting) snap traps up there. Went onto the roof and sealed up any/all holes in the eaves, and I think we've been rodent free for about a month.

[smadsen]

Dead bird in the middle of the road doesn't have any artistic tone. Also, far more common, apparently, than a dead skunk.