I was out walking my dog the other day and we came across a squirrel not three feet from us. Normally, they are a bit skittish of my fearsome norwegian elkhound but this one was close. I gave Elsa a bit of slack to chase him, better the squirrel running than me. But unexpectedly he avoided the nearby tree and Elsa closed on him much quicker than normal. I reigned her in a bit and noticed the little guy had injured one of his back legs. Despite this, he still seemed rather slow. Well, he turned to run across the street and it became apparent; he hadn’t injured his rear leg, his back legs were paralyzed. Poor guy was pulling himself along and probably couldn’t climb a tree.
I felt horrible and pulled the dog back to finish up the walk and leave him be. But what do you think I should have done about the squirrel? Leave him be? Call some society or group to come and find him? Put him out of his misery? I suppose even I could have caught him, though it would have been an interesting feat with a curious elkhound in tow.
If it can’t climb a tree then it’s probably already dead. A cat or dog would have gotten it. I doubt a squirrel can survive in such a state and was likely in a lot of pain.
Without seeing the squirrel I would say it would have been best to put it down. The terror of your dog was just going to be repeated until another animal got to it.
It’s hard making that decision so I empathise with you. I had to kill a small bird once because I ran over it and it had gravel crushed into it’s head. I think it was more obvious in my case what needed to be done.