R.I.P., squirrel

[carrie721]

yesterday after work i found an injured squirrel outside on the sidewalk; his back legs had been crushed, apparently by a car. he dragged himself away from me for a bit, but eventually rested under a bench. i managed to contain him under a tomato box and called the city to see if the animal warden (or, y'know, whoever) would come get him, but the city said they don't deal with wildlife. right. so i called the district wildlife people and they told me to call the city. thanks. i told them that i had already talked to the city and was told they didn't deal with wildlife, and the district guy told me the city lied to me. yeah, thanks again. doesn't matter, they said they weren't going to help me. the dude told me i could either sit with the squirrel and wait for someone from the district to come, but that could be hours or days (!!!!!????), or i could take him outside the city limits and shoot him (yeah, i'll just pull out my rifle that i always have at the ready), or i could take him to a wildlife rehab place. THANKS A LOT FOR ALL YOUR HELP, I'M SO GLAD I PAY TAXES!!!!! jesus. i was going to take him to the wildlife rehab place that i took that bird to last year, but sadly, he died on the way home. RIP, little dude.

[becca]

Around here one of the multitiude of cats or dogs would have come across it and tortured it, so you ensured it a quiet passing if nothing else. Writing about it gives it a second life in making us remember the little lives all around us.

[amber]

I hate this. It's so nice that you tried to help it, though. But no one cares about a squirrel, unfortunately. I'm glad it died fairly quickly, people care about squirrels so little that it is good to put them out of their misery if you can't do anything.

This brings back a huge painful squirrel story of my own. It is a shame that squirrels are so...made to get squished...it makes me really sad.

I don't think you heard my squirrel story that I try not to think about cause it makes me so sad I want to cry.

I was rollerblading back from the safeway up the hill from my house, with a huge heavy pack of groceries on my back, and carrying two grocery bags in my hand, to boot. So, I don't know how to use rollerblade brakes anyways, so I have to basically slolem down this hill very carefully in order to not end up going forty miles per hour, it is hard to stop.

I'm going down, and this squirrel is on the sidewalk, near a small sidewalk tree. I try to slow down/stop, but really it just wasn't happening, and actually I was going pretty slow but I was still going, so of course I scared the squirrel (this is why I say they are so runovereable - they just dash) and I go past the squirrel, it runs out in the street, I look back to see:

it being crushed by a big white van. *sob*. Like, I had to watch this squirrel being crushed by a wheel, then it's tail twitching for a minute, all that happened in the few moments I turned my head to look back. I was devastated.

Because of me, it ran into the street. It heard me coming before I saw it and could stop, but even if I had stopped, it would have probably been really scared and run into the street (you know how squirrels are).

Nevertheless, this is like the sad thing in my life, which makes me feel universally guilty (as if I didn't before) for all the cars, and humans, and dangers to squirrels and other animals. I mean, I pretty much caused it.

I'm so nice to squirrels, I feed all the ones in my yard/tree, and shoo my cats from them if it is appropriate. They're so fricking cute, and they live in trees!!!! I'm just sad they are so stupid, car wise. But how the hell would animals know about cars, anyways? Their last millions of years of evolution didn't necessarily adequately prepare them for the invention that came up just this century (cars).
So, yeah. That squirrel makes me feel bad for itself, but also feel bad about cars and animals in general, because animals don't understand cars, and about stupid humans and their cars taking up so much animal space. Also, it seems ironic that I was not using a car, but caused the death anyways. I mean, of course, evilly ironic.

[goldustsongbird]

Awww. ilu little squirrel. Shoot him? Yeah, that's beautiful.

[carrie721]

Originally Posted by becca

Around here one of the multitiude of cats or dogs would have come across it and tortured it, so you ensured it a quiet passing if nothing else. Writing about it gives it a second life in making us remember the little lives all around us.

thanks, becca. with all the animal lovers around here i knew his passing wouldn't go ignored or be mocked, which is what most of the people i told about it did.

Originally Posted by amber

I hate this. It's so nice that you tried to help it, though. But no one cares about a squirrel, unfortunately. I'm glad it died fairly quickly, people care about squirrels so little that it is good to put them out of their misery if you can't do anything.

This brings back a huge painful squirrel story of my own. It is a shame that squirrels are so...made to get squished...it makes me really sad.

I don't think you heard my squirrel story that I try not to think about cause it makes me so sad I want to cry.

that's a really sad story. i, too, share in the civilization vs. nature guilt, especially when it's such a personal situation. reminds me of another sad story ... the first day of summer vacation after my jr year of high school, i was driving back up to school to turn in a late assignment (really late, yeah) when i saw up ahead, an oncoming car was stopped in the middle of the road, and there was a cat leaping up and down in front of it. as i got closer, it was clear the cat had gotten hit and snapped his neck, and the leaping was caused by the severe neurological damage. and the dude drove away!!! so i got out, and picked the cat out of the street, and just held him till he died. so sad. the poor guy. i'm actually crying just thinking about it.

[carrie721]

Originally Posted by goldustsongbird

Awww. ilu little squirrel. Shoot him? Yeah, that's beautiful.

yeah. i mean, i guess that was a feasible solution, y'know, put him out of his misery. but it's ridiculous that they wouldn't come get him and take care of it. i mean, they're animal freakin' control! wtf???

[foxyluva]

Jeez, is it really that difficult to get help? Do you guys have an SPCA?

[carrie721]

Originally Posted by foxyluva

Jeez, is it really that difficult to get help? Do you guys have an SPCA?

yeah, we have organizations like that, but not many that will come and get an animal, especially a wild one, apparently. frustrating. squirrels are so omnipresent around here that they're taken for granted, nobody really cares if they're hurt or mistreated.

[foxyluva]

Originally Posted by carrie721

yeah, we have organizations like that, but not many that will come and get an animal, especially a wild one, apparently. frustrating. squirrels are so omnipresent around here that they're taken for granted, nobody really cares if they're hurt or mistreated.

Thats a shame - I bet they would be surprised that people, such as myself, have never seen a squirrel before!

[carrie721]

Originally Posted by foxyluva

Thats a shame - I bet they would be surprised that people, such as myself, have never seen a squirrel before!

whoa. really? wow. i wonder what kind of common animals you have over there that i've never seen?

[foxyluva]

Originally Posted by carrie721

whoa. really? wow. i wonder what kind of common animals you have over there that i've never seen?

I would think none. NZ has alot of birds, so you would probably see alot of strange birds flying around that I see everyday - apart from that, there is nothing that strange - I think?....

[carrie721]

Originally Posted by foxyluva

I would think none. NZ has alot of birds, so you would probably see alot of strange birds flying around that I see everyday - apart from that, there is nothing that strange - I think?....

haha, well, i would never have called squirrels "strange," but they are to you, so maybe this is a harder game than it seems. i bet the birds are beautiful!

[foxyluva]

Originally Posted by carrie721

haha, well, i would never have called squirrels "strange," but they are to you, so maybe this is a harder game than it seems. i bet the birds are beautiful!

Yeah, I would be quite shocked to see a squirrel running round, let me tell you!

There are some beautiful birds - but you dont seem to notice them as much after a while, much like squirrels in that aspect I suppose...

[amber]

Originally Posted by carrie721

thanks, becca. with all the animal lovers around here i knew his passing wouldn't go ignored or be mocked, which is what most of the people i told about it did.



that's a really sad story. i, too, share in the civilization vs. nature guilt, especially when it's such a personal situation. reminds me of another sad story ... the first day of summer vacation after my jr year of high school, i was driving back up to school to turn in a late assignment (really late, yeah) when i saw up ahead, an oncoming car was stopped in the middle of the road, and there was a cat leaping up and down in front of it. as i got closer, it was clear the cat had gotten hit and snapped his neck, and the leaping was caused by the severe neurological damage. and the dude drove away!!! so i got out, and picked the cat out of the street, and just held him till he died. so sad. the poor guy. i'm actually crying just thinking about it.

Oh my. That is horrifying. I'm so glad you held him. I hope he felt better because of it. It's the worst thing in the world to see some sweet animal die, when it never had a great chance anyways because of cars, but if there wasn't cars, it would have been fine.


I'm so mad and not suprised by the dude driving away that I can't even comment on it or think about it for more than a few seconds. It really makes me feel like I am a different species than some humans. Obviously I am not, but you know what I mean. I don't understand when people don't feel compassion for animals, at all. I can't comprehend. No Habla Espanasshole. But then, I care about animals more than humans, for the most part, and I know a lot of people don't understand that logic. It is just that animals are so innocent, and humans are so not innocent at all. And it makes it worse that we have bigger brains and could do good, but we don't. Whatever.

Cars aren't very cool in relation to the rest of the species on the planet besides us. In many ways. Or at least two ways.

[HomerMcvie]

I'm so sorry about the little guy. May he rest in peace.