# 1 and #2 - I live in a more rural-ish lake area. You will never and I mean never, beat wildlife or insect life. They are always there, in huge numbers, they don't need my assistance. I have hit and killed more wildlife than I can count. Not because I wanted to or was trying to but because I'm not endangering myself, my passengers or any other car by swerving and trying to miss them.
#3 - Seriously? The likelihood of someone videoing this is very high. The likelihood of multiple people calling the police about it (with the plate #, very easy to get the right info) is astronomical, myself included.
That sounds terrible.
If you ever feel as though euthanizing an animal yourself is a good idea, decapitation would probably the your best bet as far as least amount of suffering goes.
#1
This is funny because it ties into story #2
But I have rescued a bird in the middle of the road with what I thought was an injured wing. It was just walking in circles. Brought it back to the house, and realized that it had been shot in the head by a BB gun.
Like, the thing was on auto-pilot. Alive but no one home kind of thing. As there was no real help for him, I put it out of its misery.
THAT was hard.
Anyway, now? It would depend. If I could safely get to the bird to save it, I may. But if I'm jeopardizing my life to save it by running into heavy traffic? I will cut losses and leave it to nature to hammer out.
#2
I would and have rescued bugs/lizards/dragonflies from pools but don't ever put them out of their misery as I figure they may dry off? I don't know. I usually don't check back on the critters.
#3
I would jot down the plate and call the police.
None of these are real stories (I don't even drive), but my best realistic projections based on similar situations I've been in before and how I generally respond to time-sensitive dilemmas.Bird
As we're on a highway and it appears to already be confusing traffic, I wouldn't stop. That would seem to put more risk on the humans around. Or so I'd think at the time.
In a couple miles, I would suddenly realize a careful way to pull off the road, change my mind, and declare my original reason for not stopping to be mere justification. I might go back, but now the traffic has increased, and the bird is nowhere to be seen.
Turn back around.
Wherever I was going, I would let the others know in a text that I'd be fifteen minutes late, then show up five minutes late.
Dragonfly
Definitely rescue it from the pool, and place it somewhere more comfortable than the concrete on the pool's edge, such as in the grass or on a plant.
If it didn't seem okay, I'd wait and see if it just needed to dry off in the sun. Peek over at it intermittently for a while.
If it appeared unrecoverably damaged, I would take out my phone and do a quick Google search for internal insect anatomy to make sure the brain of a dragonfly is where I think it is.
Take stock of what the sharpest object is in the pool area.
Leave the bug alone.
Child
Police: "Do you have a license plate number?"
Me: "What I saw was - one, two, three, four."
Police: "Only four digits." [context: state with seven-digit license plates]
Me: "Unfortunately correct. They were pulling away right as I thought to look for it, and I only caught those four. I don't know what help these will be, but it's what I have, and you should know. Oh, and they're the first four digits of the plate number. Not the last four."
Police: "Noted..."
I have encountered a situation similar to the first and it is SO awkward. Especially when that feeling of injustice wells up. I have so much feeling for police who intervene in these scenario's and how delicate it is. Would you do the same thing again?
Thank you for your kind reply here.I since have made myself develop skills for 'shocking situations' and have responded well in emergencies. I have been able to give CPR or locate a missing child despite the pressures of the situation. But, I still think about that boy every once in a while.
I'd make a note of the third, probably not the first two.
The third may or may not be significant, the other two would make me sad but its also kind of the natural order and you sometimes have to be stoic about these things.
Good thread topic though.