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United States24813 Posts
A few years ago I held a summer job at a local town park working maintenance. As a seasonable employee I didn't really do much in the way of of fixing or maintaining things, but I helped out with some of the less desirable grunt work. For example, seasonals would often get roped into doing a garbage run (I probably did 2-3 per week working 5 days/week). A garbage run consisted of two gentlemen riding on the back of the truck (there was a platform to stand on unlike the residential garbage trucks) and emptying metal pales into the rear opening. This wasn't too bad until we got to the parking lots near the fishing piers where there were typically 3-4 pales full of rotting fish, but I digress. We also mowed grass, cleaned out charcoal grills, and drove around on John Deere Gators (shown below) picking up garbage and the like (more fun, and on hot days you just hang out at the beach and check out who's there).
One afternoon another seasonal and I were driving around on a Gator when we saw a workman driving away from a fountain he had been working on. We pulled up to the fountain to see that he had somehow struck a squirrel while pulling his vehicle out of the area. <Warning: don't read if you are very squeamish> We pulled up close to it and saw that the squirrel was still alive. Its chest cavity looked sorta crushed in, and we could clearly make out its breathing (it was lying on its back and we could see a very quick bouncing of the chest). It seemed unable to move itself.
We were confused about what we should do. It was painfully obvious that the squirrel was not going to survive such an injury. We discussed a few possibilities.
- Leave it alone and come back later to clean it up after it dies.
- Somehow kill it and put it out of its misery.
- Desperately try to save it somehow against all odds.
- Drive away and pretend we never saw it.
The people I've discussed this with have said I made the right choice, but ask yourself what you would do before you read the spoiler below:
Poll: What would you do?
(Vote): Leave it alone and come back later to clean it up after it dies.
(Vote): Somehow kill it and put it out of its misery.
(Vote): Desperately try to save it somehow against all odds.
(Vote): Drive away and pretend we never saw it.[/list]
(Vote): Other (Write in reply)
+ Show Spoiler [What I did] +We did choice 1. Our hearts told us to do choice 2, but we knew if anyone spotted us murdering a squirrel the circumstances would suddenly become irrelevant and we would get tons of shit. I've always sought a more creative response than the four above that somehow results in the greater good, but I haven't found one.
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oh god the poor squirrel
i'd probably chicken out and leave it alone yeah
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Sad day for the squirrel.  I would have done option 1.
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1584 Posts
kill it, I would just feel too cruel if I left it there to die. :l
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Do animals suffer like humans do? I'm not sure but I doubt it so I'd probably go with number 1.
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I would have almost undoubtedly driven off and possibly gone back to clean it up or left it for someone else...not gonna put myself through a lot of hassle for a squirrel.
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1584 Posts
On March 09 2009 04:23 Nytefish wrote:
Do animals suffer like humans do? I'm not sure but I doubt it so I'd probably go with number 1.
Why wouldn't they?
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On March 09 2009 04:23 Nytefish wrote:
Do animals suffer like humans do? I'm not sure but I doubt it so I'd probably go with number 1.
Uhhhhh that is probably up in the top 10 of the dumbest questions I have ever heard.
If you feel pain you can sure as hell suffer and animals feel pain. Kill it quickly if you know it's not going to survive, no reason to let it just agonize there until it dies.
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it's a fucking squirrel. I'd just leave it and clean it up later.
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kill it. it would be hard and it would mess with your head, but it's the right thing to do. Just thinking how to kill such a small thing feels strange but as an maintenance worker you must have had some "tools". :/
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1584 Posts
On March 09 2009 04:28 FragKrag wrote:
it's a fucking squirrel. I'd just leave it and clean it up later.
Would you say the same if it was just a "fucking puppy" or a "fucking kitten" ?
If not, why? Just because squirrels aren't brought up as pets they should deserve to suffer a long and painful death?
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Dogs and cats are property, squirrels are not. And if it was a dog/cat, I'd still leave it.
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On March 09 2009 04:27 Jayme wrote:Show nested quote +On March 09 2009 04:23 Nytefish wrote:
Do animals suffer like humans do? I'm not sure but I doubt it so I'd probably go with number 1. Uhhhhh that is probably up in the top 10 of the dumbest questions I have ever heard. If you feel pain you can sure as hell suffer and animals feel pain. Kill it quickly if you know it's not going to survive, no reason to let it just agonize there until it dies.
Well it's obvious they can feel physical pain, but it's hard to measure the amount of emotional pain they feel. And if it's okay to kill a suffering animal then why do so many people dislike euthanasia?
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On March 09 2009 04:23 Nytefish wrote:
Do animals suffer like humans do? I'm not sure but I doubt it so I'd probably go with number 1.
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I heard squirrels are quite a delicacy.
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you should have killed it by dousing it with gasoline then lighting a match and watching it die and take pictures or a video camera so we can all see it. the other option is to use a chopstick or one of those long thin metal sticks and stuck it up its ass and through its mouth and then roasted it so you you can eat it (if it doesn't have any diseases) or put it into water first so you can drown it so that way you can do the rest easier
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On March 09 2009 04:36 Nytefish wrote:Show nested quote +On March 09 2009 04:27 Jayme wrote:On March 09 2009 04:23 Nytefish wrote:
Do animals suffer like humans do? I'm not sure but I doubt it so I'd probably go with number 1. Uhhhhh that is probably up in the top 10 of the dumbest questions I have ever heard. If you feel pain you can sure as hell suffer and animals feel pain. Kill it quickly if you know it's not going to survive, no reason to let it just agonize there until it dies. Well it's obvious they can feel physical pain, but it's hard to measure the amount of emotional pain they feel. And if it's okay to kill a suffering animal then why do so many people dislike euthanasia?
Yea, i'm real worried about the emotional pain i'm in after my chest cavity gets crushed.
Kill the little thing, i cant stand seeing things in pain.
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On March 09 2009 04:38 Cloud wrote:Show nested quote +On March 09 2009 04:23 Nytefish wrote:
Do animals suffer like humans do? I'm not sure but I doubt it so I'd probably go with number 1.
Could everyone who's thinking what I said was really stupid please explain why. I've looked up articles about this and they're all pretty inconclusive (and I'm not sure which ones to trust). I don't mind being wrong, I'd just like it if someone would tell me why.
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On March 09 2009 04:41 decafchicken wrote:Show nested quote +On March 09 2009 04:36 Nytefish wrote:On March 09 2009 04:27 Jayme wrote:On March 09 2009 04:23 Nytefish wrote:
Do animals suffer like humans do? I'm not sure but I doubt it so I'd probably go with number 1. Uhhhhh that is probably up in the top 10 of the dumbest questions I have ever heard. If you feel pain you can sure as hell suffer and animals feel pain. Kill it quickly if you know it's not going to survive, no reason to let it just agonize there until it dies. Well it's obvious they can feel physical pain, but it's hard to measure the amount of emotional pain they feel. And if it's okay to kill a suffering animal then why do so many people dislike euthanasia? Yea, i'm real worried about the emotional pain i'm in after my chest cavity gets crushed. Kill the little thing, i cant stand seeing things in pain.
But if the end result is death anyway why does it matter how the last moments go?
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Dude, it's a fuggin squirrel. Are you some sort of PETA vegetarian or something?
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EPT![[image loading]](http://www.ecs.gatech.edu/dcpd/phase3/umass/Images/6x4%20gator.jpg)
