Dull Men's Club

I found a wounded squirrel lying on a walk path a few years back. I first thought it was already dead but upon closer inspection it was still breathing. I didn't see any visible injuries so I have no idea what had happened to it.

I carried it into the forest, placed it on a stump and crushed its head with a large stick. It was as quick as it can be and I think I did the right thing but god damn I felt shitty about it for multiple days after. Red squirrels are my favorite wild animals around here. I just hate having to be the one who has to make the decision to end a life. I don't feel like it's mine to make.

I have an old pet gerbil too and I often wonder what I'd do if something happened all of a sudden and it was obvious it's in a lot of pain and needs to be put down quickly. The quick way is to just slam it onto the ground at full force but holy fuck I don't even want to think about having to do that. The alternative is a fabric bag tied around my truck's exhaust but those are some really uncomfortable final minutes. An enclosed container and a bottle of nitrogen would be the ideal method I believe. That leads to loss of consciousness and suffocation without the sense of suffocating (which is triggered by excess carbon dioxide).

In my truck I carry a hatchet for just this reason. A friend had to strangle a dying racoon once because they didn't have anything to hit it with.

I believe our purpose is to do the best we can in the environment around ourselves. The place we can make significant change. So that usually means your house, land and community.

Sometimes being a shepherd of your local area requires you to make hard choices like that. The bad thing to do would be leave the rabbit to suffer. You did the right thing.

You are not a monster

You are not a monster

You are not a monster

That sucks. Years ago, I had a single small mouse somehow make it into my upper-floor apartment and get caught in a glue trap.

Not fun, especially for an animal lover, but a pretty fast and humane end, considering limited options on-hand...

I hope you consider keeping your cat in the house after this. House cats are an invasive species that absolutely devastate (and, on an individual level, torture) local wildlife for literally no reason. I know you didn't mean to do this, but the rabbit nonetheless suffered horribly and died because you or someone in your household let "the half-feral asshole" be outside the house; I hope you recognize going forward that you have the agency to make sure it doesn't happen again.

You're not a monster; I don't hate you. Your reaction shows you care, and I hope your future decisions reflect that.

(I could be misreading this, but the way I interpreted it is that the cat dragged the rabbit in from outside. If the rabbit wandered in the house, obviously disregard this.)

Last week I went out the front door to grab the mail and was treated to the vision of a dismembered bunny corpse lying in our front yard. Crow, maybe?

I turned around, grabbed a plastic bag, picked up the body, threw it away, and never said a word to my family.

It's hard, sometimes, and lonely. But we're here. You're not alone.

Also, it sucks.

I’ve had to do similar before. When I was 16 I was learning to drive with a friend’s dad out in rural Australia. There were a bunch of ducks crossing the road at one point; I stopped to let them pass, but after they moved on and I started rolling forwards one duck turned around and tried to attack the car, resulting in me hitting it. I couldn’t even look out the rear view mirror at it but my friend’s dad did, and told me it was still alive but very mangled. He gently told me to reverse back over it and keep on driving, which I did, and then we drove in silence for the next fifteen minutes.

I felt absolutely awful about it (and still do, despite it happening almost 2 decades ago) but I know that leaving it in the road dying slowly would have been a far worse fate.

I hope you take some solace in the fact that you did the right, albeit difficult, thing for that rabbit.

You’re not a monster. I’m sorry you had to do that.

The real monsters are the ones who either hurt animals for fun, or hunt them but suck at it so now there's an injured creature in the wild who will hurt until a predator manages to find them and end the suffering.

You did what you could with what you had. Sounds like it went as peacefully as possible. And for what it's worth, it left maybe knowing someone was there with it trying to help. Probably not, but maybe.

Hey man, that's really rough. You did the humane thing and ended its suffering.

It's much more grusome but if you can hack it, a shovel to the head is quicker and less painful than suffocation.

You ended its suffering. You're the opposite of a monster.

I put down a mouse in similar shape, but used a hatchet and hammer and made as quick a cut as I could. It's just not fun but the right thing to do.

That was the best thing you could have done for it. Leaving it alone out there would make you a monster.

Been exactly there. Our cat pulled a juvenile bunny into the house and I was able to get it away from her, but the damage was done. Don't dwell on it. You did what had to be done and it was the right thing.

I wish she'd stick to the pocket gophers and mice.

I feel you. Been there. Sympathize.