[aigel]

That' right. France is one of the lesser restricted countries, with many hunters actually, so should be doable to have some fun with guns. Not the level of the US but definitely better than the UK. In the UK hunting was an aristocrat snob sport mostly, with fox hunting and such, so it was easy to get people behind the anti hunting movement. We have a big fight ahead in the US but luckily most people are still indifferent to hunting and it is definitely not something elitist.

Back to the original question, if the brain stem isn't turned into mush, the animal is practically dead but still can run a bit, thrash and flop around just from neurons firing randomly like a seizure. Example would be decapitating a chicken. You let go of it, it will fly / and even run a bit. I would not immediately assume that the rats suffer if they are hit in the head and stop thrashing within 30 s, they certainly will be unconscious and most likely not feel pain.

One thing to remember is that no animal in the wild dies of old age in bed. They all usually meet their maker in the form of a predator at the latest when they get weak. Not a fun way to go!