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.
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
We had 2 of our cats runover - it was really sad- they were strays we took in. People always went too fast where I lived and the poor cats had no chance- the only reason the latest stray is still alive is because she is terrified of the road (and plenty of other things) and doesn’t go near it
Apparently the farmers shoot them and throw them in the road so it looks like road kill.
Disgusting behaviour.
No where near enough of them exist though, that gov. Article was 2014, many roads have been built since then with no bridges. I think it should be automatically built when a new A Road etc is made. Or even better, go and put bridges on all fast roads that don’t have one. I’ve never seen one myself before. There are a lot of national speed limit roads through country lanes where I live, no bridges at all.
You must have felt awful with the fox :( We have a road near me where you constantly see dead badgers. Apparently the farmers shoot them and throw them in the road so it looks like road kill.