Roadkill Guilt
 

I hit something on the way to work this morning at 60mph, I'm not sure what it was, but it had a tail and I hope it wasn't a cat.

Does anyone else feel guilty when they hit an animal? I had no chance to avoid it on a single lane road unless I wanted to end up in a tree, but it's a living thing never the less and I hope it didn't suffer.

I'll probably feel bad for a couple of days, I usually do after killing something.

Re: Roadkill Guilt
 

I hit a squirrel once and felt a bit bad about it, even though it was its own stupid fault for suddenly changing its mind and heading back the way it came across the road once it went out of view. Couldn't have done much about that one anyway, I suppose.

Re: Roadkill Guilt
 

I feel guilty if I run into something. Momentarily.

I rescue Black Widows, snakes, young chicks.
I feed the crows, sparrows, finches, hummingbirds, squirrels...
We have a safe haven for all the Easter bunnies right now.
Even ants and insects are part of the ecology. I simply do not kill if I can help it.

Saw a crow fly through the property yesterday with a chick in it's maw.
The squirrels have eaten the Killdeer eggs. (They nest on the ground.)
There's a blood spatter on my concrete path, I think a Prairie Falcon ate a Blackbird.

Life...

Re: Roadkill Guilt
 

My Neighbour hit an Elk, car was written off and when she came back the Elk had gone...

A lot of trucks around here.

Re: Roadkill Guilt
 

It probably limped off in terrible pain with a broken hip or something - and went to die alone and in pain :(

I know the world is the world, but I hate having a hand in somethings untimely death if I can avoid it.

Re: Roadkill Guilt
 

Nice dinner for some other animals though...

Re: Roadkill Guilt
 

I seriously doubt this seeing the damage to the car, and certainly she thought it was dead.

The Pup has found dead Elk, Deer in the past, amazing how quickly even a large one will disappear.

A friend said there was a dead horse on the land next to his, the Buzzards were circling and in a few days it had was down to bones.

Re: Roadkill Guilt
 

If it helps redress the balance, I rescued a spider from being eaten by my cat this morning.

Re: Roadkill Guilt
 

Yeah, I feel terrible, and the feelings come back whenever I am reminded of the incident, even years later! I have hit a few, thankfully very few animals, but I always feel bad about it. :cry_smile:

Re: Roadkill Guilt
 

Mine has a taste for stink bugs, I have had to rescue them from him a few times, mostly because I don't want him smelling like a stink bug.

I am sorry to say that I hit something probably every other month, mostly because of my drive. It's 5am, very little other traffic, and I drive a single lane road with woods on other side.

I'm somewhat surprised I haven't had a deer encounter yet.

Re: Roadkill Guilt
 

One of our cats once caught a baby rabbit - her job description read "snakes and rodents", perhaps she couldn't read :unsure: but I digress. ….. Anyway I chased her across the yard, up the bank, onto the neighbouring property, then back into the far end of our yard, and she eventually dropped the rabbit, which scampered away. I don't think she ever forgave me, and if you ever hear anyone say that a rabbit only screams once, it isn't always true! :eek:

Re: Roadkill Guilt
 

I have a stink bug living in my office now, but I've never had one in the house. My other cat once wolfed down an earwig right in front of me though, which was nice.

Re: Roadkill Guilt
 

:nod:

We had a great hunting cat. Minnie Minerva.
She once caught and killed a baby rabbit, and hid it behind a floor to ceiling curtain. We didn't notice until the smell..

Her boyfriend, Felix the Cat, started circling the sofa frantically last week, pulled it over and yes, baby gopher snake.

Re: Roadkill Guilt
 

We were sat out in the garden Sunday afternoon when there was something of a kerfuffle from over by my truck parked out on the road. Looked across to see this guy sat on the tailgate looking somewhat agitated - he/she relocated to a nearby highspot by the time I got my camera and hung around for a while.
Didn't think anymore of it until I went out to the truck a couple of hours later to find a couple of piles of feathers on the ground, further inspection revealed a badly beaten up Mourning Dove under my truck - didn't look like it was going to survive much longer. Contemplated either finishing it off quickly (didn't get as far as figuring out how), moving it out from under the truck for the hawk to finish or walking away and allowing nature to do whatever. Took some advise from a Falconer/animal rescue person we know and was told to leave it alone for nature to sort.
The Dove was gone by the following morning when I moved the truck.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...0a98069d0.jpeg

Re: Roadkill Guilt
 

Yup.

Nature is harsh. Even if beautiful looking.