I saw a HORRIBLE thing today.

[quote]Originally posted by Zil:
<strong>If the animal is smaller than a sheep, keep on truckin'. I ain't swervin' and crashing for someone's puppy, kitty, ferrett, squirrel, etc.

Dislclaimer: I do not intentionally run over animals for fun, that is just plain barbaric.</strong><hr></blockquote>

If you don't attempt to slow down, move out of the way, or wait for the animal to move, then it's just as barbaric.

I've never hit anything (either intentionally or otherwise) and will do my utmost to see that it stays that way. Life is life, no matter what the package it comes in.

If an animal darts in front of me, I will attempt to avoid it, unless that would endanger me or my passengers. I'll feel bad if i hit it, but its not worth killing myself or others over. But to deliberately hit an animal for "fun"? Those folks need severe counseling with a professional and I would also reccomend immediate sterilization

I am an animal care worker with WIRES wildlife rescue rehad and release... I have seen some bad, sad things in my time....but driving at an animal takes the cake

maybe one day the boot will be on the other tootsie

[quote]Originally posted by Mayet:
<strong>I am an animal care worker with WIRES wildlife rescue rehad and release... I have seen some bad, sad things in my time....but driving at an animal takes the cake
</strong><hr></blockquote>

My wife does wildlife rehab, now that's a lot of dedication...

And they call me anti-social...

People make me sick. Bah, I'd take sitting home with the dog, than spending time with a bunch of annoying people anyday. And I'd have no problem killing any wanker who so much as took a kick at my dog. People like that are a waste of space. If I had my way they would bring back public executions.

BTW - If you feel like flaming me for my opinion on how much people suck, Do it in a PM. :p

Makes me wonder what some people think of hunting. It is essentially the same as deliberately hitting an animal with your car, except that you went out and purchased an item, and applied for a license, specifically to kill small woodland creatures. Is that better, or worse than running animals down in the street? One is much more deliberate and pre-meditated than the other. Just curious.

I have seen negative enforcement used twice. The first was with our dog. He deliberately hiked on my father's chair, (striking at the seat of power of the alpha male). After being punished, he did not do this again for years. The second time, learning the laws still applied, he never did it again.

The second time was when we were walking around the neighborhood and our neighbor's husky attacked. We had little kids and a puppy. A sharp kick in the ribs convinced the husky not to attack. From that point on, he would fawn over us, fawn over our dog - a complete change in behavior.

Positive reinforcement should be used whenever possible.

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When i was in high school waiting for the bus one day, there was a puppy playing with some of the students. It ran out in the road, and was hit by a friend of mine. As it lay crying in the road, some other firneds of mine came by in a van. They saw the dog, and swerved across the road to hit it. Somehow, the dog lived with very little damage. When I asked the people in the van why they ran over it, they said they thought it was a stuffed kitten. Why they would want to run over a stuffed kitten anyways.....

We try and rescue turtles whenever possible. Usually, by the time we can turn the car around and get back to the turtle, there is nothing but a tangle of red blood and shell. Around here, most people will run over possums and other animals for sport.

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An animal is not worth a human life, but the very least you can do is be considerate. These animals are born in darkness, and their whole life tends to be one of trying to eke out a living on nuts and seeds. They sleep outside, in a tree or in the ground, through rain and cold. They live in fear of predators. Why go out of your way to make their lives more miserable?

[quote]Originally posted by Kymera:
<strong>Makes me wonder what some people think of hunting. It is essentially the same as deliberately hitting an animal with your car, except that you went out and purchased an item, and applied for a license, specifically to kill small woodland creatures. Is that better, or worse than running animals down in the street? One is much more deliberate and pre-meditated than the other. Just curious.</strong><hr></blockquote>

That is a whole new can of worms, personally I feel trophy hunting(preditors and so such) is wrong, but say deer hunting or rabbit hunting is a different story. Hunting for food is one such story, the deer that will otherwise overpopulate and starve is another. I have never shot something without the full intention on makeing sure as much of that animal was used as possible. I don't know, guess I am just on both sides of the fence on the issue, sometimes I feel they should be left alone, and sometimes I see the rational in some hunting.
But cruelty and killing just for the fun of killing, well that earns you one first class ticket to A#@whoopinville.

[quote]Originally posted by Kymera:
<strong>Makes me wonder what some people think of hunting. It is essentially the same as deliberately hitting an animal with your car, except that you went out and purchased an item, and applied for a license, specifically to kill small woodland creatures. Is that better, or worse than running animals down in the street? One is much more deliberate and pre-meditated than the other. Just curious.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Now THAT is a quotable quote. Well said, Kymera.

I knew some folkes who were in the Navy who liked running over cats too...

Also, My uncle had come up for a visit several years ago. When he got back to his farm he found two of his three dogs shot to death. Nothing was broken into or taken. They just shot two of his dogs. Luckily the third was very gun shy and ran at the sight of the guns.


Some people are just plain sick.

GLSmith

Two of our cats are rescue jobs from situations like this.

Billy, our blue-point Siamese, was found on the road with a broken jaw. We think someone kicked him. He was terrified of people for a couple of years, but now he is THE most affectionate and friendly and gentle cat you have ever met, too... :mad:

Ember, our tortoiseshell (black and brown) was found by my wife out walking. She was a newborn kitten, too young to be separated from her mother, and a LITTLE KID WAS GRINDING HER FACE INTO THE SIDEWALK. Ember is still missing the front half of her lower jaw and has some teeth pointing out in weird angles. My wife simply took the cat away from the kid and kept walking, never looked back.

Under my wife's care, and my help later on, both of these cats have grown up to become two of the most amazing pets we have ever known, very affectionate and caring... I never liked cats before knowing our three.

I only hope that that kid learned at some point that what he was doing was wrong.

:mad:

I have never hit an animal. I have swerved severly in order to avoid them, sometimes scaring my passengers. This one time there was a group of us going white water rafting and I was the lead car. We were on this 2 lane highway that nobody barely ever used. On this highway there was about 1 squirel per 2 feet, I'm not joking. I did not hit one. They would even run along side of the car, some of them even seemed like they had a death wish. Also on that road I almost hit a rabbit that popped out of no where but swerved to miss him. Also a hawk almost did a face plant into my winsheild, he was so close everybody including me ducked, but I did not hit him either because I swerved. The car behind me could not believe that I didn't hit anything and I'm glad that I was the lead car because he wanted to just plow through without swerving. This road went on for at least 10 miles.
When I was smaller the lady who picked me up for school accidentally ran over my cat. I saw my cat stick his head up for a second and then die. I missed school that day, and the lady was crying to and I never blamed her. Actually my cat had a tendency of not to get out of the way of traffic. It was sad because my cats friend (another cat) sat by him for a long time just waiting. Actually my cats friend eventually became our cat as it started to come to our house. But now that cat is no more and I have two right now. Sorry for the long story, just memories.

I like animals as well but I must say this......
If you ever injured or more (too horrible for me even to type) a family member because you swerved to miss a squirrel and went into thier lane or something comparable YOU would be the one I would be trying to drive down (either physically, emotionally or financially-all depending).

[quote]Originally posted by Kymera:
<strong>Makes me wonder what some people think of hunting. It is essentially the same as deliberately hitting an animal with your car, except that you went out and purchased an item, and applied for a license, specifically to kill small woodland creatures. Is that better, or worse than running animals down in the street? One is much more deliberate and pre-meditated than the other. Just curious.</strong><hr></blockquote>

I think hunting just for the sake of killing / male bonding / etc.. is wrong.

My father in law hunts. But what he kills (deer), he uses as much as he can.
He'll clean it, use all the meet (and I mean ALL the meet). The unusable parts become dog / guniea hen food. The hide gets tanned and made into a rug, decoration of some sort. I don't know what he does with bones, maybe donates them. He even takes the hoves and makes knifes out of them.
That, I don't have a problem with.

I don't consider hunting ethically wrong if you use the entire animal and aren't merely out for trophies.

As for pets, in my few short years I have learned that there are more depraved people than one will conciously allow oneself to accept. These people have motivated me to keep my pets indoors most of the time (except for a few activities dogs should only perform outdoors). Every dog or cat I have owned has been trained that bolting for the door or the street results in time in a kennel. They have all been well trained enough not to try to run even if they see kids outside to play with. I have taken them to parks before and had them stay within a few feet of me without a leash. People who abuse their pets sicken me and those who deliberately hurt animals for 'pleasure' make me doubt our claim to supremacy.

I'm just glad that with my pets being house pets that anyone who tries to hurt them will have to break in and deal with me first. I've got many long, sharp, pointy things to deal with such people.