# Do you think its wrong to step on bugs and stuff? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 22, 2014, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347 "2014-11-22T16:39:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/41 "2017-06-21T00:54:15Z")
It’s wrong to take life for no good reason. “I was in a hurry and they were in my way”, “I don’t like bugs” and “who cares” are not good reasons. Sorry. It was indeed wrong. The world would be a goddamn fucking better place if people thought other life forms were also important. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/42 "2017-06-21T00:59:48Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > It’s wrong to take life for no good reason. “I was in a hurry and they were in my way”, “I don’t like bugs” and “who cares” are not good reasons. > > Sorry. It was indeed wrong. > > The world would be a goddamn fucking better place if people thought other life forms were also important. How far do you extend this sanctity? Do you morally object to the senseless slaughter of weeds? Or if it’s done to make one’s yard look better, is that enough of a reason to justify the taking of these lives? ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/43 "2017-06-21T01:49:34Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Step on bogs? Maybe not. > > “And STUFF?” Um, I’m not willing to give you approval to step on any possible thing you want. I need a list. right? ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/44 "2017-06-21T03:09:25Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > What about rats? I used to think the only good rat was a dead one. (Think \*The Black \*_Death in Europe_ yes I know it was actually the fleas). > > Anyway one day my crew and I were cleaning up a yard. I picked up an over turned wooden box and there was a mother rat with several babies inside. The mother actually stood up on its hind legs and gave me a look that seemed to say, “kill me, but please leave my children be.” I put the box back down and told everyone to leave it alone. I was working at farm in Berkeley Ca. and we were losing chicken every night. We found a rat nest that had a lot of chicken feathers around it . There was a huge pile of rocks that the rats lived under , we had to move the rocks to get rid of the nest and a small rat came running right at me and I stepped on it with my men working boots and killed it ! I did this so fast that it took me a few seconds to realize I just stepped on a rat ! It was an instant reflex kill the rat or get bitten by it . Yeah I will step on a small rat if I felt threaten by it. ---
**Author:** ![Buttercup\_Smith](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buttercup_smith/32/473_2.png) [@Buttercup\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buttercup_Smith)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/45 "2017-06-21T03:44:36Z")
Depends on what kind of bug and if it’s outside or in my space. We often get little lizards, skinks I think they are called, and I will try my best to relocate it outside. If a moth or any other flying outdoor bug gets in I will try my best to get it out alive. Exceptions are flies and cockroaches. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/46 "2017-06-21T03:47:53Z")
I am very much bothered by people who kill spiders for no reason other than that the spiders exist and they find the appearance unpleasant. People who have no rationale to offer, other than, “It’s a _spider_,” as if that somehow in and of itself justifies the killing. You can cite statistics all day long about how spiders eat several hundred thousand tons of harmful insects annually and it falls on deaf ears, totally deaf ears. These same folks would be livid if someone killed a duckling or kitten, and in fact quite a few call t themselves animal-rights activists. Guess where spiders rank in classification? Kingdom Animalia! ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/47 "2017-06-21T04:30:16Z")
> [@KRC](#): > > I wouldn’t go out of my way to kill one unless there was a major pest control problem at the house but… > > Well, one day at work I saw something move. I thought it was a mouse and started chasing it. I chased it right into the ladies restroom and it was a roach and I raised my foot to send it to roach Heaven and it looked at me with its big brown eyes… > > No, I just decided it was such an impressive specimen of roachdom that I caught it, put it in a box, damn near accidentally mailed it to a client but got that straightened out at the last minute, thank OG, took it home, named it Gregor Samsa. > > Never had much of a personality, did Gregor. He did like to eat baloney and didn’t mind a bit of beer either. I actually paid ten bucks for a gigantic Madagascgar Hissing Cockroach. No bug squishing for me! I even evict large wolf spiders. However, I draw the line at fleas, bedbugs and Mosquitos, all of which show no hesitation in hurting me! ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/48 "2017-06-21T06:02:02Z")
Jesus Christ. Any or all of you that express such sympathy for insects better not be eating meat from a grocery store. If you are, I hope you choke on your meaningless platitudes. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/49 "2017-06-21T06:46:26Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Jesus Christ. Any or all of you that express such sympathy for insects better not be eating meat from a grocery store. If you are, I hope you choke on your meaningless platitudes. If a cricket enters my living room, I’ll do my best to catch it carefully and put it back outside. If I want to, I will eat fried crickets. I don’t believe there is any inconsistency between these two behaviours. There is no reason for my actions to be so blunt and monolithic. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/50 "2017-06-21T06:49:44Z")
Is it a cockroach? My answer depends on whether it is a cockroach, or some other type of bug. ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/51 "2017-06-21T07:27:21Z")
I would have tried harder not to kill the crabs, I think. Having said that, I set killing traps for mice in my house. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/52 "2017-06-21T07:42:04Z")
Cockroaches and fleas are doomed if they come into my personal space. Anything else I will go out of my way to inflict the least harm. ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/53 "2017-06-21T19:10:25Z")
Nice of the OP to come back after 2 1/2 years to defend himself:confused: ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/54 "2017-06-21T19:38:21Z")
> [@Toastmaker](#): > > I believe taking the life of any living thing is serious business and should not be done without good reason. Is there anything wrong with that concept ? I can’t think of anything wrong with that concept. In fact, it sums up how I feel about life on this planet. I think what the OP did was gross (ewww), but they did nothing wrong. > [@Grrr](#): > > Gross, but not wrong. I’m a little late to the party 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/55 "2017-06-21T20:48:33Z")
True Story: When I was about 5 or 6-ish, my mom was taking us to Grandma’s house about 45 minutes away. At that age, that seemed like a super long road trip to me, so I made a blanket fort in the back seat by stretching a blankie across the front seat headrests. I was laying across the bench seat (no seatbelt, it was the 70s, back when they gave children sharp knives to go run and play in traffic with) when I noticed a huge, juicy, green grasshopper calmly chilling out on the ceiling of the car. I let out a blood-curdling scream because little ‘Zilla was terrified of bugs. My mom damn near wrecked the car pulling over, pulled me out of the car, yelling, “WHAT? WHAT? WHAT IS IT? ARE YOU HURT?” at me. I was blubbering incoherently but managed to point at the grasshopper and get out, “B- Buh- BUUUUUG!” I’m sure my mom was ready to kill me at that point, but she dug through her purse, grabbed a wad of tissues and carefully scooped up the grasshopper, where I assumed she’d gently set it free in the grass or something. “I put it under the tire, so as we drive away, it’ll get squished and it can never get you.” This _seems_ like a good thing to say to a kid except I pictured the squishing and could hear the exoskeleton crunching in my imagination so that was even _worse_ than riding to Grandma’s House with a goddamn grasshopper. “NOOOOOOOOO!” And I’m still surprised she didn’t pull over again and just friggin’ leave me on the side of the road. Because I then cried all the way to Grandma’s House (which was probably full of bugs and spiders). It’s not a moral thing for me. It’s a squick-factor thing for me. I do not crunch bugs. EVER. I catch them and set them free. Or in the case of giant Florida roaches (palmetto bugs), I gas them with Raid and then toss them in the backyard. Spiders get caught and set free. I cannot bear to crunch a thing. So I still have the heebie jeebies from reading the OP and would like to scrub my brain of the last ten or so minutes because I can still see the guts and body bits of those poor hermit crabs all over your shoes and now I think you must be some kind of monster. Because how can you stand to squish the little things? :: shudder :: I don’t think you’re a terrible person or anything. You must just have a much higher squick tolerance level than mine. ---
**Author:** ![Buttercup\_Smith](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buttercup_smith/32/473_2.png) [@Buttercup\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buttercup_Smith)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/56 "2017-06-22T00:16:00Z")
The other morning as i was doing the 30 mile an hour speed limit I ran over something brown and roundish that really did crunch and I couldn’t even look in the reaview to see but I just know it was a turtle or a coconut or a big land crab. I have been thinking about it since. Sorry if it was anything alive. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/57 "2017-06-22T15:02:05Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > I’ve been known to move worms from the sidewalk to the dirt after it rains. I have no problem with the circle of life, and most critters will end up dead anyway, but I just hate the thought of a worm dying for no reason at all. A worm dying to feed a bird is fine, but when it is just crawling along the wet sidewalk heading in the wrong direction I just don’t like it. > > I’ve personally killed and butchered and devoured plenty of animals in my day, so that’s not it. I just hate the senselessness of an animal dying or suffering for no reason at all. Thank you! I thought I was the only “worm rescuer”! I can’t stand to see them struggling. I also try to catch any wayward flies, moths, spiders, etc that get into the house and then let them go outside. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/58 "2017-06-22T15:13:44Z")
What do you guys think about using live insects, worms or smaller fish as bait for fishing? ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/59 "2017-06-22T15:23:47Z")
That is insecticide and almost as bad as homicide. ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/60 "2017-06-22T15:39:45Z")
Whe my daughter was about 3 or 4 she asked the what happens when you die question. My husband told her something along the lines of, well we don’t need our bodies anymore and our souls go to heaven. The next day they were outside playing and she was stomping on ants, she told him, there’s some other souls going up to heaven. I don’t think what you did was wrong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347.md?page=4)