Suffering kritters.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Tonight the family went out to dinner. About two car lengths in front of us, a field full of deer started running across the road.

One fawn got smacked by the car in front of us. It realed back, and was flat in the road, kicking in the air.
I couldn't tell if it's leg got broken, or it's head got hit, but it brought back a lot of memories when I got hit by a car.

My wife shrieked, and closed her eyes... since she was driving, I grabbed the steering wheel from the passengers side and drove around the suffering fawn.
Nothing against her, she was instructing my daughter not to look... "nothing to see here folks"

It's not a fun moment.

But this isn't about my suffering- more, my inability to do anything about it. Wife and daughter were screaming. The deer was shaking in the road.Traffic was stopped. Yes, maybe if I had a concealed carry permit I could go shoot the sucker out of misery in front of the family, but, I didn't have a lot I could realistically do.

[masraum]

Yeah, that would be awful. I'm glad that you had the presence of mind to grab the wheel. As bad as it was for everyone, it would have been a lot worse if you'd felt the bump of running over it with your own vehicle. I once saw a cat on the side of the road that had probably just been hit and likely had a broken back. I didn't stop. There was nothing that I'd have been able to do, and I was just a kid.

[Scott Douglas]

This reminds me of the night I was driving home when living on a vineyard in Mendocino County, and came upon a stopped car with a young woman standing at the side of the road.
I stopped to see if there was something I could help with. She pointed to a fawn lying in the road that she'd hit when it ran in front of her car. It obviously wasn't going to make it. I told her I'd take care of it and that she should get in her car and go on. She did.
I got some work gloves out of my trunk along with a hammer from my tool box which back in those days I always had with me.
I proceeded to put the fawn out of its misery and tossed the carcass over the side of the road into the ditch for the coyotes to feast on.
They have amazingly fragile skulls. If I hadn't had my hammer I would have used a lug wrench.
I drove home a lot slower than if I hadn't stopped to help.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

^yup. That's it.
I didn't have a good solution, but worse yet, I didn't stand up and end it's misery. Convenient for me, not for it.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Originally Posted by masraum

Yeah, that would be awful. I'm glad that you had the presence of mind to grab the wheel. As bad as it was for everyone, it would have been a lot worse if you'd felt the bump of running over it with your own vehicle. I once saw a cat on the side of the road that had probably just been hit and likely had a broken back. I didn't stop. There was nothing that I'd have been able to do, and I was just a kid.

When we were in the restaurant, I told my daughter about how when I had just gotten my license,my mom let me drive home one foggy christmas eve, and somehow I managed to run over a rabbit!

(well.. I effe'd that up!!!!)

[stevej37]

Our DPW used to have a crew for road-kill pickup. They quit and now you can't drive a quarter mile without seeing a deer carcass. After a few weeks, they are just bones sticking up...the scavengers have stripped it clean. The circle of life.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Originally Posted by stevej37

Our DPW used to have a crew for road-kill pickup. They quit and now you can't drive a quarter mile without seeing a deer carcass. After a few weeks, they are just bones sticking up...the scavengers have stripped it clean. The circle of life.

Funny, today, the vultures were out on the road today in another neck of the woods. (chewing the ass out of another deer roadkill)


What's weird, is in my yard, I've seen TWO vultures die before my eyes. They are large beasts. For some reason they cosy right up to the yard and give up. After a life of eating what they eat- I can't blame em'. That doesn't save me from cleaning their bodies up. Guess what, who eats the vultures? No one! I get to toss them into the woods.

A-holes!

[stevej37]

Yes, they are an ugly, disease ridden bird. But they do the job. They are the size of full-grown turkeys here.
They have excellent eyesight....can spot a dead animal from long distance.

[Baz]

About 2 years ago on the way home from visiting Mom......a black cat lying in the road ahead of me. Obviously hadn't been there long. Hell if I'm going to leave it there to be run back over again X number of times. I put it in the back of the Volvo and buried it in my front yard when I got home.

Was on a date with my GF and did the same thing several years ago, also a black cat. I was in my work truck and had a shovel in the back so scooped it up and slid off into the bed. Busy as hell roadway (US1) but no way I'm letting more cars desecrate the poor creature.

I could go on and on - turtles, coons, squirrels, possums......just so sad that drivers don't pay more attention while driving.....