Does Roadkill Make You Sad?

[Nanci]

Does your husband brake to avoid hitting animals? I hate it when people don't even _try_ to miss them. No it's not just nature- cars are not nature. When those little birds swoop down over the road to cross, they are just staying low to the ground to be less vulnerable to hawks. They can't know they are flying at the perfect level for a car to hit them! Snakes and lizards bask on the road to warm up for the day ahead. Every time I see a run-over glass lizard or snake, I think "That could be my Maizey, or my Baby Russell!" I feel happy that they are safe from cars. And turtles- come on. How hard is it to avoid a turtle? Man, those gopher tortoises could be 80-100 years old, and some car takes them out, maybe even for fun??? I say, "God sees the little sparrow fall" and to me that means that every life, no matter how small, is _equally_ important. Hopefully, those that don't mind hitting animals will be held accountable later.

[Aggie_Ama]

Deb- I missed the turtle that he saw later in the ride.

Nanci- The funny thing is my husband was a Wildlife Major. He hates the urbanization of the area we are in, 6 years ago (when we left for college) it was not very populated and roadkill was not common. I think he meant it is the nature of us (humans) taking over everywhere.

Although he hunts and loves to fish, he doesn't hit anything on purpose. He is even more of an animal lover than I am. I hate snakes, but he will play with the non-venomous ones. And he said he would prefer to release any fish he catches because it is hard for him to filet them. About a year ago I hit a squirrel in my car and was very upset, he offered to drive the rest of the way. I think he just doesn't want me to get upset on a ride over something he knows we will see often.

[Nanci]

I must admit, I was a little happy when I saw a roadkill black cat out in front of my house, because I thought it was the feral cat who was killing all my songbirds. But it wasn't.

Nanci

[salsabike]

Yes, it makes me sad, period. There aren't many living creatures I can think of that I'd want to do without, even the ones I don't like or am scared of (yellowjackets).

[Nanci]

I could live without fireants, or any biting ants.

AA, I wasn't attacking your husband. BF is always telling me I'm going to kill me and everyone in the car with me if I keep braking/swerving to miss whatever. I don't care. And usually this is prompted by a mild slowing down- not anything drastic. I think some people are afraid to take evasive action. Just think if that was a kid chasing a ball suddenly running out- gotta keep in practice by not hitting squirrels!

I've found that, with birds, crows, vultures, etc., if I start gently honking the horn as soon as I see them (out there eating roadkill!) they will move out of the way.

[Kalidurga]

What makes me sad is not the death of the animal per se, but the fact that it's a wasted death. It didn't die of "natural" causes, it didn't die as the result of predation, it died most likely because someone wasn't paying attention to the road. Life feeds on life, but metal and rubber shouldn't.

[Lise]

Yup, always sad. I'm not sad for bugs smushed on the windshield, but everything on up from there, yes.

On a lighter note, one time I was road-tripping to the Great Smokeys with DP-du-jour (1990?). Up ahead we saw what we thought was road kill. Both started to get really sad. It looked like several animals, a whole family? As we passed it, we realized...it was chunks of turf. We laughed about the tragic turf roadkill for the rest of the trip.