So something weird happened on the way home tonight

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Basically, as me and my girlfriend were driving home tonight, I saw a car pulled over on the side of a road. As I get closer, I slow down, but my girlfriend says, “Oh my god, stop”, and then jumps out of the car with her jacket. At this point I notice the owner of the other car, a woman of maybe 30 or so, and a little writhing fluffy thing in the road. She explains the situation, but at this point I don’t remember whether she hit the rabbit, or whether she came upon it. Anyhow, it’s back legs were broken, it’s tail was lying a few feet from it, and it had settled down at this point, resigned to death it seems.

My girlfriend, at first going to pick it up in her jacket, instead asks if I have a tarp or something to pick it up with. I give her a shirt, but she decides to call her mom for advice on the situation. Her mom basically says to “let nature take its course”, and also advises that the rabbit might bite and give her rabies. Her and I both agree that letting it sit there and get run over again or pecked to death by birds isn’t such a good option, so I end up calling the police department to ask them to move it or put it out of its misery.

The dispatch lady sounds a bit :confused:, and directs me to animal control. I call them, they too seem a little :confused:, but tell me anyway that they’re sending someone over now. By now the first girl has left, and so we wait around for the truck to get here. It takes a few minutes, pulls over next to the jackrabbit. The lady comes out, puts on gloves, picks it up, puts it in the cage thingies on the truck. Doesn’t really say much to us by the way. So then before she leaves, I ask her what going to happen to it, and she says they’re putting to sleep, then drives off.

Now, I really don’t think I very well could have left the rabbit sitting on the road with a clear conscience. But it seems like the people that I called to deal with it seemed a little like, “Why are you calling us with this again?”. Which I suppose makes sense, but isn’t it kinda their job to deal with this? So I do feel bad in some sense bothering them with it, but their inconvenience is worth not letting the rabbit get traumatized anymore I think. I dunno, I just kinda wanted to post this and see what others thought.

2

I applaud your compassion, and yes, their job is to come out if called. Simply because they don’t get calls for roadkill often doesn’t mean they aren’t needed.

I had a similar thing happen, but for me it was a dove with a broken back. It was writhing around, obviously in its last throes. I very deliberately ran it over. It was the most merciful thing I could think of to do. It was hard.

3

Unfortunately when a wild animal is injured real bad like that (spinal injury), the human thing to do is to “put them down”.

:frowning:

4

It wasn’t so much that they were putting it down. I realize that there’s really no other reasonable choice, there’s no real ‘point’ in helping a wild jackrabbit recover. It’s just the reactions of the people I called, and especially that of the lady who did the picking up. I think she might have also thought we were the ones who hit the jackrabbit. I dunno, still feel kinda funny about it, but not about anything in particular.

5

Personally, I wouldn’t bother the police over this kind of matter. I don’t want to sound heartless, but they usually have better things to take care than run-over jackrabbits. The compassionate thing is to kill the animal. I know, it ain’t easy, but you either run it over, break its neck, or, god forbid, whack it smartly over the head with a crowbar or sharp pipe. I know, it ain’t pretty… I was in a tour bus in Edinburgh once when we came across an obviously very injured and very dying sheep. Everybody knew the proper thing to do was to put it out of its misery. But how? There happened to be a rather burly and brave Aussie on the bus who came out and managed to snap its neck rather quickly and cleanly. Not the prettiest option, but we all thought that was the only right thing to do. It’s tough.

6

To kill it fast. Pick the rabbit up by it’s rear legs in a swinging motion to about shoulder height and throw it down hard on the roadway. Animal control will probably suffocate it with carbon dioxide.

On the sheep, cutting its throat like one does when goat is going to be barbecued is the best bet.

I’m a bit suprised that the 911 operator didn’t admonish the original poster for the misuse of the 911 system.

7

I think he said he called the police department, not 911. It is the best thing to do when there is anything in the road, dead, alive, or inanimate. It’s very much the job of the police to provide for public safety, and in this case they called someone who could deal with the problem, animal control. Say he’d just left it there, and the next unsuspecting motorist comes along, sees the rabbit in the road, and swerves to avoid it, thereby running herself off the road and possibly causing injury?

8

Another option is to get some car starter spray (not sure if that’s what it’s called) and keep it in the car. In my younger years I always owned old beater cars and in the winter needed to spray this in the carb to get going during the cold winter months. It is made of ether. We used it often to kill the mice our cat would bring home, tortured and half dead. Just spray it by the injured animal’s nose until it stops breathing. Who knows, maybe they don’t even make it anymore with the prevailance of fuel injection.

9

Kill it, throw it/kick it/whatever off the side of the road. I really don’t think it’s worth bugging the police about this. Dead moose in the middle of the road? OK, you have a problem. Dead rabbit? There’s dead rabbits/birds/squirrels in my garden all the time, I don’t bug the police about it.

10

That’s just it! It wasn’t dead! Handling any wild creature is a no-no, especially an injured one, because whether they have rabies or not, they can still hurt you.

Not all of us could put it out of its misery, either, regardless of if we know it’s the most humane thing possible.

11

I called the Police Department, not 911. The PD then directed me to animal control.
It was far from dead; it simply had broken hind legs.

If I had had no other option, I would have put it out of its misery on my own. However, it was in town, and I couldn’t have brought myself to it, given that my only option would have been to run it over once again. Also, this happened fairly late at night, close to midnight. I don’t think the phones were exactly off the hook, especially not in the small town that I live in, so it’s not as though I would have been preventing someone from doing something fairly important. I just really couldn’t bring myself to either kill or simply leave it to get pecked to death or get run over.

12

My apologies to the dakravel on the mistake about 911. It still wouldn’t suprise me that they were a bit miffed about being bothered so late by a rabbit of all things. I do suppose that it is Animal Control’s job though.

BTW rabbits don’t carry rabies. They can carry fleas and ticks that have other diseases. And I believe that they can at least have some of those diseases too ( eg., bubonic plague ). It’s popular practice where I live to not hunt rabbits for food until after the first prolonged cold spell in order for the sick ones to die off.

13

Calling Animal Control was the proper thing to do if you weren’t prepared or able to put the animal out of its misery on your own. It is, indeed, their job to take care of such things. I imagine the people on the phone and the woman who came to the scene were simply surprised to get a call on such a small animal – usually when a rabbit comes up against a car the rabbit dies quickly, I would think. there may also have been a component of “Oh, great, now I have to drive all the way over there to put a rabbit out of it’s misery!” Doesn’t matter, though – as I said, it’s their job whether or not they feel like messing with it.

My husband would probably have knocked the bunny in the head with a tire iron or something to kill it. But I couldn’t have done that (unless I really had to, I guess). Running it over on purpose would have been an option, but seems a little imprecise. So, I’d have called Animal Control, too.

14

A group of us called our local PD on new years eve 'cause my husband found an apparently injured pigeon at our apartments. Flopping around like it couldn’t fly.

The dispatcher was very nice about directing us who to call.
I think they’re kind of used to it. They get calls about traffic lights and downed trees and such when it’s the city guys who take care of it. They just say “thank you and we’ll let them know”.

Anyways, once animal control was contact we were instructed to “capture the bird” :confused: and hold it until they got there.

That’s when it decided it it could fly after all. :rolleyes:

I just know I couldn’t take care of something like that. I would FREAK if I came across an animal and it was in mortal pain. I can’t let a bug suffer, even as much as I hate them!

15

This may sound heartless but the easiest way to do this is to put your bootheel on the upper neck where it meets the skull. One sharp thrust downwards and it is dead. No more pain. Grotesque but the only option.

16

It’s always worth asking if help is available.

In the Lower Mainland (Vancouver and surrounding area) we have a couple of wildlife organizations. O.W.L. works primarily with birds and The Burnaby Wildlife Refuge looks after any wild bird or animal that will fit in the office. I belive Critter Care is still running too and I think they sometimes take fairly large animals.

I did a work experiance at the Wildlife Refuge. During my time there I helped wash paint off a seagull, watched as a squirrel had its leg set and did a search through the files to set up a list of all the birds that had come in contact with a certain bird repellent.

The staff is great. They really care for the wild creatures. The only reason I didn’t stay there is that I wasn’t allowed to form any kind of a realationship with the animals. That would have made it impossible for the animal to be released back into the wild. At the zoo I can get as close as I want.

I know there are organizations in many areas that do the same thing. Many vets will take the odd wild animal too, as long as it can be kept where it won’t contaminate the rest of the patients. At least a vet might be willing to put the animal to sleep painlessly. There are lay people too, who know a lot about animal first aid and run private shelters. Animal Control ought to know who in their area is available.

If you have to pick up a wild animal and transport it yourself, be very carefull! Rabbits in particular have HUGE teeth and can use them very well! Theve got a solid kick too and very sharp claws. Even a mouse packs a hell of a bite when it’s scared enough. Trust me on that!

The best thing to do is nothing but transport. Don’t feed the animal or give it any kind of medication. A very small amount of water may be offered. If the animal is going to be saved and has to go under anesthetic, it could vomit if any food is in the stomach. Keep the animal warm and quiet and as immobile as possible. If a wildlife refuge or shelter is available, take the animal directly there.

In some areas it’s illegal to keep most wildlife, even if you’re trying to help it.

Good on you for at least trying!

17

I’m not going to fault anyone for not being able to put an animal out of it’s misery. I did it once, a feral kitten I ran over. It was still thrashing around, with a crushed hind end/broken back, so I picked it up by it’s tail and wacked it’s head on the pavement. After disposing of the poor thing I threw up all over the alley.
It can be hard to do something like that, even if you know it’s the humane thing to do. At least in the OP Animal Control came.

18

Last summer I came across a squirrl in the southbound lane as I was headed north in this same condition. Clearly in its death throes. I struggled with what was the right thing to do. Should I turn around and run over it? In the end I did nothing, but it bothered me for a while.

19

I was driving home one day and the guy in front of me hit a squirrel. We came to a stop at a traffic light, and I literally watched this thing going through its death throws at the side of the road. As soon as the light was green, I was able to pull into a side street, park, and go see if the poor thing was still alive. It wasn’t, and I was in tears by the time I got home. I don’t know exactly what I would have done if the squirrel had been alive when I got there, but I definitely would not have left it.

20

I know what you mean about the police dispatchers being uninterested and rather :confused: when you call.
Last fall I was driving home and saw a dog running on the road in the middle of town, on a very busy six lane road. Cars were honking and swerving to not hit it, and you just knew there was going to be an accident. My son immediately demanded that we rescue the poor thing, we pulled over and got out, trying to entice it to come to us with a fresh hot piece of pizza since we’d just picked one up. The dog wasn’t having any of that, and kept darting in and out of traffic like it had a death wish. I’d been close enough to see it’s collar and tags, so I knew someone nearby was probably looking for it.
With nothing else to do, I called the police department, less than a block away. Even though I hadn’t used the emergency line, the dispatcher acted all miffed that I’d be bothering them at all. It was presenting a very real hazard though, with drivers swerving and slamming on brakes trying to avoid hitting it, something obviously needed to be done. She promised to send someone out, we waited about fifteen minutes, still trying to call to the dog from a safely out of traffic spot, but saw no one. Eventually it ran off into a nearby neighborhood and I could drive on, my poor son was finally comforted by thinking the dog was going home.