A comedian some years ago noted that people were scrupulously buying dolphin safe tuna. They don’t want to harm the cute dolphins…but what about the tuna? If an animal is cute that’s different?
I wonder if this cat was a treasured family pet. Or maybe a rancher kept a cat or two around to keep the mouse population down but the man wasn’t attached to it. For that matter it could have been a stray or feral cat. I probably would have felt differently if it had been an armadillo, though I’m not claiming that’s logical.
Modern technology just puts animals at risk. Birds get sucked into jet engines, snakes get chopped up by lawn mowers, cats get hit by cars, and so on. Sad but
inevitable, it seems.
Just this past Sunday I was driving & noticed something on the side of the road; almost looked like a pair of jeans billowing in the wind; except it wasn’t that windy As I got closer I realized it was two turkey vultures fighting over just who would get roadside lunch (what I saw from a distance was the wings flapping out & retracting). As I get even closer one takes off…low across the road. I slammed on my brakes (& therefore, I don’t need a new windshield) but when I later looked at the dashcam I realized Golden Earring / Radar Love was playing on the radio; the words at that point in the song were ♪ Last car to pass here I go ♫ If I wasn’t paying attention it would’ve been it’s last car to pass.
I watched a squirrel get flattened yesterday. My wife and I were in the car, another SUV coming the other way, squirrel ran out in the road, did it’s usual squirrelly “Stop! No, go! No, wait - go back!” thing and… crunch. I actually yelled “Watch out!” to the squirrel (like it could hear me, or would listen anyway). Stupid squirrel.
We were watching some nature show about Africa years ago, and when they showed a group of hyenas I started making a lot of anti-hyena comments. The narrator then mentioned how we “rate” animals based on their appeal, and hyenas are valuable animals who are often not respected just because they’re not as “noble” looking as, say, lions. Good lesson for me.
Yeah, I hit one in the Sierra Nevadas once doing his squirrely dance. No way was I gonna take the car full of teen-agers with me down the mountainside for a squirrel.
An ex-bf of mine told me of a cross-country trip he took with his brothers when they were young and stupid. They were driving in the dark on a country road in Indiana IIRC driving way out beyond their headlights way too fast. He was in the front passenger set and nodding asleep off and on. He heard his brother at the wheel make a noise, and he opened his eyes to see a deer’s nose essentially smear his window as they passed by. They could easily have all been killed. Yikes.
I think it was in a Dear Abby letter that I first heard that if they aren’t killed by the collision and they come through the windshield, they can kick you to death with their back legs.
Poor kitty - but you did the right thing by not swerving to avoid it. As instinctual as that is, it can often lead to much worse outcomes :(.
The only animal I have ever hit with a car, to the best of my knowledge, was a skunk. I was barely aware of it at the time, but I felt a sort of thump under the floorboards - then when we stopped at a traffic signal a few minutes later, the smell became quite evident. We drove another 2+ hours to get home, and every time we had to stop, we got the aroma (it was fine when the car was moving).
Needless to say, when we got home that night, we parked the car in the driveway - and I took the car to a car wash the next morning.
40+ years ago, I was taking an evening class. A classmate came in, quite upset, and announced she’d killed a kitty with her car en route. Which was bad enough, as you know… but I misheard her and was horrified that she’d killed a KID and still came to class. Whoopsie.
The only thing I ever hit with my car in my almost 30 years of driving is a squirrel, and it made me feel like crap so I understand how you must feel. Worst part was literally a minute later when the song on the radio finished the DJ came on and said it was squirrel appreciation day.
He had safely crossed the road and would have been ok. But he turned around. I was on a highway driving 60mph.
I saw him land in my mirror. He took a few steps and went down. There was no way he could survive. I was 70 miles from home and it was already past 5. Any local vets were closed.
It bothered me for several days. I just hope some kid didn’t lose his best friend.
I would guess that every motorcycle mechanic, and any rider who’s logged a fair number of miles, has eventually pulled … uh … bird remnants out of some portion of the front or engine (components) of their bike.
It’s never pretty.
The feather bit alone leaves me feeling a little down.
When we were young, we were city kids. If we went on vacation and an animal ran across the road, our parents would always instruct us, with great severity, to never swerve for an animal. You can hit the brakes, but don’t swerve.
It’s not your fault. I think some animals just have an instinct to jink when something scary gets too close. It would work with a stooping hawk, but with cars, not so much.
Spiders are one of those things I will never kill. They kill all the bugs I hate, so I just leave them be. Plus I grew up with the idea of never killing spiders. Something about bad luck.
True. On the other hand, I imagine many folks out there are ranchers. Maybe they keep cats around as a way to control the rodent population. If so, they may not be terribly attached to them emotionally.
Due to a fellow employee quitting, I have been doing some of his stuff. This involves driving a big forklift outside. First thing this morning I drove out of the main building and up a ramp to an outdoor loading dock. I backed down the ramp and noticed a big wet spot with some “tissue”. With closer examination it was obvious I had driven over a frog. It was hard to tell but probably a tree frog of some sort. They tend to migrate from the nearby woods to the buildings for some reason. I am a longtime fan of reptiles and amphibians, so it was kind of a bummer of a way to start the day. Also, as I was loading the trailer a pair of sparrows were building a nest in the frame at the front. It was really depressing that they were putting in all that effort in something that was going to be gone Monday morning.
