Published on 12, July, 2020
Does anyone else do this? I really hate suffering (also bullying) of any kind and this extends to saving worms drowning in puddles, snails in the middle of the path ready to be trod on, bees in the middle of the road and such like. Today I walked past a worm drowning in a puddle and had to turn back to go save it. Any kind of animal suffering means huge emotional turmoil for me, more so than any suffering of humans. I’ll think about it for the rest of the day. It also means I really struggle with adverts asking for donations and showing donkeys in awful states and whatever other animals they show. I have to turn it over as I can’t physically do anything to help them and get an awful feeling in my stomach.
I should have also added I get really angry and upset seeing wildlife killed in the roads too. I’ve managed to only kill one pigeon (was on a 60 and it literally flew out of a bush straight into my car :( ), and successfully avoided squirrels, hedgehogs, foxes etc. This is their land, so many people have no respect for nature. I wish when building roads we could take wildlife into consideration, maybe build tunnels or small bridges so they could get across roads safely. But we’re far too selfish for that. I’ve even turned around and deliberately ran over a squirrel in the past that was half flat and rolling around in pain - the road was too fast to stop but I could cope knowing it was suffering. The least I could do was put it out if it’s misery, really made me cry.
That must have been incredibly tough witnessing that poor squirrel suffering like that. You did the kindest thing in the circumstances.
It reminds me of the time when I spotted a hedgehog on the road ahead of me. Sadly I was not able to swerve or stop in time and my front wheel had already gone over it by the time I came to a complete stop. I will never forget the squealing noise come from that poor injured hedgehog. I decided the kindest thing would be to drive on and allow my back wheel to run over it and put it out of it's misery. It was incredibly upsetting
My brakes get a lot of wear and tear as I'm always having to stop for pheasants on the road. Other drivers just power on, seemingly oblivious if they hit them. People also shoot them in my area and I hate that
In Saudi Arabia they do build bloody great culverts to allow the animals crossings of the roads that go through the desert.
I know this because on the first day of my new contract we went quad biking in the desert and one of our party who was following the course of the road hit the entrance to one that was buried in the sand, breaking her arm in the process..
I wish when building roads we could take wildlife into consideration, maybe build tunnels or small bridges so they could get across roads safely.
I agree although we do get road signs nowadays warning us of smaller creatures like frogs etc.
We ran over a fox once on our our way home from buying a fire.
I can't look at that fire without remembering that a fox lost its life because of the fire's purchase.
Wildlife bridges/crossings do exist:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/green-bridges-safer-travel-for-wildlife
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/09/wildlife-bridge-california-highway-mountain-lions