If the animal is injured in such a way that it has much hope of survival with treatment, you are far more likely to end up injured yourself for your trouble. I have the misfortune of knowing lots of people who would rush their adopted stray to the emergency vet clinic and have them spare no expense in saving their precious mutt then turn around and try to make a claim you did something that caused the problem and should be financially responsible for the death/injury of their “baby”.
Is it edible?
More or less. An unpleasant conversation with the owner is likely to involve a lawsuit or a punch in the face or something else equally undesirable and they’re all things to be avoided.
I disagree, as I said before.
One of the unfortunate realities of modern life is that “doing the right thing” isn’t always safe anymore. Sorry, but if your pet ends up under my tyres I’m not going to go and tell you. I’ll move it off the road but I’m not risking a lawsuit, verbal abuse, or physical assault over a cat or dog.
Now, if you live in a smallish town or the 1950s or whatever then sure, that’s different and I’d probably stop and let someone know because there’s a community thing happening there and people in a small town are more likely to understand and thank you for your trouble. But in a large city? No way. The probability of dealing with a distraught pet lover who freaks out or someone who thinks you did it deliberately because you hate [animal type] or something like that is way too high for comfort. Your animal had the misfortune to be on the road at the same time as someone else’s car and they don’t need the aggro that comes with “doing the right thing” because of it.
Eh? I’d stop for a cat or a dog because that is what I would want someone to do if they ran over my dog. Shouldn’t we treat others how we want to be treated ourselves rather than assuming the worst about people? If it doesn’t work out then fine, you’re not going to get into a law suit in Australia, maybe the person will be upset or angry, it’s highly unlikely they’ll try and beat you up. Most people are just like us, would you try and beat someone up if they ran over your pet and were courteous enough to stop and let you know?
Having said that, I wouldn’t stop for a wild animal, if I did that I’d never get anywhere sometimes. I’ve been driving in New Zealand and literally been hitting rabbits every few minutes.
The whole point of the concept of morality is not just doing it when it’s convenient. If you only do things when they are convenient, you have no morality. Or worse, you have the morality of Ayn Rand. “What’s beneficial to me is right.”
Good grief. You people and your “angry pet owner will attack you with a machette” mentallity.
Call the owner from a pay phone way down the road later if you are worried they will go all CSI on your ass and try to track you down later. If the animal is injured, drop it off at a vet and let them call the owner.
Begeezus.
What does Miss Manners say vis a vis field dressing road killed pets? Is one expected to do this before notifying the owner, or is that considered presumptuous?
If it was still alive, it might be agressive and diseased. You’d probably have to finish it off. I don’t know if I’d have the heart to do that, especially after all the guilt of hitting it in the first place. I really feel for you, it’s just a terrible situation I’d never want to be in.
Honestly, I’d probably only stop if it was a dog or cat, like someone else said, to check for tags if it was dead. If it was still alive, I’d do everything I could to get it to an ER vet.
I think we ended up adopting a stray dog this way when I was little…
Never for a wild animal, unless it broke my car. Wild animals just have to pay the penalty for the call of the wild. If it’s alive, you’ve got the possibility of rabies or other nasty diseases, a chance of getting attacked, etc. If it’s dead, all the little fleas and ticks and lice and assorted nasty buggy things will be jumping ship and looking for a warm body to latch on to.
I had a teacher once who told the tale of hitting a rabbit, and he stopped to pick up the carcass to feed it to one of his snakes (he worked for a biological conservation organization). Had it in his station wagon for maybe 30 minutes, and the car was infested with little red flea things. Took him days and many applications of Raid to kill them all.
Still, picking up roadkill for food is legal in Texas. My brother hit a deer once, and within a minute someone in a pickup pulled up behind him and asked if he wanted it or not. As he had no use for a dead deer, the guys in the pickup took it.
In town, I would probably stop if I hit a pet-type animal, if it were safe to do so.
Its not just a matter of beneficial to me, its a matter of cost/benefit. At best I get a “thank you for letting me know” at worst I get assaulted and or sued. I also take this position because if I hit a critter, I will most likely be in my work truck with the name of my business all over it. People tend to see $$ when they feel a business or has done them wrong. The stray they adopted last week suddenly becomes their highly trained “depression dog” and they are experiencing immense personal stress and loss of health over the loss of the animal requiring a dozen or so trips to the therapist (at $200/pop) to help them cope with the loss of their dog.
I am not expecting a reward, I am just avoiding what is more likely to not result in damage to me, my vehicle, or my ability to pay my rent.
Drop it off at the vet? Make sure you tell them its not yours and you will not be paying the bill and see how inspired they are to “do the right thing”.
If they won’t, at least you still tried. But, YOU wouldnt try cause its apparently all about you.
I KNOW people who have taken strange injured pets to the vets. The vets took them, cause even though they TOO are in business, they actually give a rats ass about animals and suffering and dont wet their pants in mortal fear of injured lapdogs or lawsuit happy customers.
And you still ignored the pay phone part if the animal was dead, which given a collision with a vehicle is the much more likely scenario.
Driving, I’ve only ever hit a squirrel. I still feel guilty that I didn’t stop to see if it was dead and if not, to back over it. Why leave an animal in pain if you can avoid it?
I was the passenger in my roomate’s car in college when she hit a dog. Tags, everything. She didn’t stop. I didn’t have the guts to make her. I think we should have knocked on all the doors nearby and found the owners, who I am morally sure was a six year old orphan girl. When I was little, four years old, somebody killed my dog on the road and didn’t even stop. I still blame myself for not stopping her.
Payphones? I’m surprised you’re able to communicate with us from back in the 1980s. While you’re back there, can you get us some Microsoft shares? Thanks.
(Seriously: There aren’t many payphones around anymore, at least here).
The problem with applying the “Do unto others” rule in this case is that I wouldn’t expect someone to knock on my door to tell me they’d run my pet over, and therefore I’m not about to go knocking on stranger’s doors to tell them I’ve flattened their pet by accident.
And from the sounds of it, I really must read Ayn Rand, because “What’s beneficial to me is what’s right” seems a pretty appealing viewpoint, I must say.
I just wanted to make a side note from a few posts back (sorry I got behind). Every vet that I have ever known (and as a life-long pet owner there have been several) including the vets on military bases would take in and treat an injured animal (pet) and would only euthanize it if absolutely necessary. This was done at no charge to the person bringing the animal in (but might be charged to the owner if found, before they were allowed to pick up the animal).
If you hit a pet animal, and it is only injured, not dead, taking it to the nearest vet is always a good idea if it is possible.
And on the flip side of that, if you are a pet owner whose pet goes missing (especially if you have an “outdoor” cat) the nearest vet is probably a good place to start looking for it.
Do you have a pet?
No. He was run over by a car a couple of years ago but had been part of our family for over a decade before that. 
What if a guy stumbled out in front of you, he’s killed by the impact, and nobody sees it? Cost/benefit analysis of that situation definitely points to driving off and keeping quiet, right?
Come the fuck on. The two situations aren’t even remotely similar, and you know it.
And what bass ackwards african village do you live in that doesnt have a payphone to be found?
Geez, then use YOUR tribal drum to call Animal Control, give THEM the phone number or TAG ID of the pet, and have THEM call the pet owner. That way the pet owner can’t use tribal drum ID to track you down to your hut and sick the vodoo priest on you for killing his pet.
Our recent ancestors died on the beaches of Normandy and figured out how to go to the moon. But you guys can’t even pick up the phone without pissing your pants in fear and the concept of even the simpleist anonymous communication is apparently beyond your mental grasp.
If you don’t give a flying fuck about calling some pet’s owner, fine. Just don’t try to dress it up as something involving certain mortal danger, and requiring superhuman effort and intelligence to pull off, when in fact you are just being lazy and thoughtless.