When I do a c-section, I ask the owner a similar sort of question. “If things are not going well surgically, and a choice needs to be made, would you prefer we concentrate on the litter (puppies/kittens) or the bitch/queen?”.
People who are “breeders” usually know their answer right away. “This is her last litter anyway, concentrate on the puppies” or “She is the cornerstone of my breeding program, concentrate on her”.
Then there are the people who are shocked/offended by being asked. I tell them that maybe they should not be breeding.
I’m a big softie when it comes to animals, huge softie, but I can envision a circumstance in which I’d be forced to euthanize one myself. My wife hit a coyote a few months back and it limped off pitifully in a field to die; if I’d had a rifle, I’d certainly have shot it to save it from that, but there was nothing I could do.
A little closer to Bear’s situation, there’s a house with a bunch of cats always around it a block or two from my office, and a couple of weeks ago when driving back from lunch we saw a momma cat with a horribly broken leg limping across the street. She was walking on the stump with its leg twisted back, with three kittens following it. I made the block but didn’t see her again. She was probably too wild to catch (the kittens too), so I don’t know what I would have done if I had seen her.
I don’t think I could’ve killed the kitten. I probably would have consoled myself with the thought that maybe, by some fluke, someone would come along who could help it. Just the idea of stomping its head in or hitting it with a hammer…too much to contemplate. I’m not sure leaving it is the moral thing to do, maybe not, but I don’t think I could bring myself to kill it.
Well, we’ve definitely spent way more thought on it in this thread than we did on the ground. Like I said, from the time I entered, I could hear the pitiful meow. I was surprised to see such a young and injured animal. It moved so slowly. Limping, creeping it’s way toward me as it meowed.
I thought to myself outloud, “That thing needs to be put out of its misery.” I’ve got pretty good soldiers, and following what seemed to be an order, one of them looked around and found a hammer.
I looked over at him and said, “If you can do it quick and painless, go ahead.”
He walked over to the cat to snatch it up. But then… well, remember that scene with Yoda? Where he limped on his cane on his way to fight. Then, in an instant turned into some wild, crazy, summer-saulting, saber wielding maniac? Well, this cat did the same thing!! It freaked the fuck out!!
I don’t know where all that energy came from, but apparantly it had a lot to live for. It hissed and creamed itself into a little alcove where he was out of reach.
At that point I said, “Fuck it. If he’s got that much fight left in him, let him be.”
'Course, maybe that little reserve of adrenaline was all he had left. Who knows.
Some years ago I was on patrol. It was a dark dank night and as we drove along the road sea to the left and hills to the right we came across a kitten that had obviously been hit by a motor vehicle. It appeared to be in pain and suffering. My partner and I debated what to do. I wished to take it to the local animal sanctuary where it could be tended, treated and possibly recover. My partner said ‘its only a kitten, put it out of its misery…its the humane thing to do.’ Eventually after some debate I donned my gloves and went to pick the poor kitten up. Gloves or not it ripped my hands to pieces (poetic licence/slight exaggeration).
We got back into the patrol car and my partner drove over its head despatching it very quickly to the cattery in the sky. 'nough said?
One factor that can’t be completely ignored in this turned-out-not-to-be-hypothetical-after-all situation, is perhaps what interpretation will be made of your actions by local observers.
For example, a local knowing there are soldiers in the area, and discovering the corpse of a kitten with a big, bloody boot print where its head ought to be, might not understand that it was a mercy killing. I guess there are also scenarios where leaving it be might be badly misinterpreted too.
No Mangetout, I’m not that insensitive. The remains were scooped up and received a proper buriel. There were no witnesses to the incident, the car did not leave a bloody bootprint and who mentioned being a soldier?
Never mind. Suffice it to say that although my post follows yours chronologically, I was responding to the person who started the thread, and to the discussion at large in the thread.
A sudden head crushing is probably a lot less painful than a poisoning. It’s how I humanely ended a poisoned rat I caught in my kitchen (I used a rock instead of my boot, though).
As my grandfather always said, don’t believe in the love of hookers nor the limps of stray dogs.