A Very Sad Experience

[birdlady49]

I was driving on a very busy highway this afternoon when I noticed a car swerving on an on ramp. When I looked over, there was a pigeon. He had obviously been hit but was still alive, sitting up, and looking terrified.

I wanted to pull over and run back and grab this poor bird. I couldn't, because we were all going at 55 miles per hour or more. I'm sure that if I were able to pull over, he would have already been struck again. And killed.

I feel so miserable when these things happen and I feel completely helpless.

[Lisa B]

ohhhhhh I hear ya......and had a similar thing happen to me.
I was coming out of NYC over the George Washington Bridge, in the fast lane, in my mustang. I saw a hurt limping pigeon from under the car infront of me. I hit my breaks and this HUGE truck laid on the horn and almost hit me in the butt....I didnt realize he was so close. There was no way I could stop.
I had passengers in the car. we were all silent. All Bird people.
After we got back in NJ, all I could say, is " I couldnt Stop"
we all cried.
I came home all upset. Geo asked me what happened. I told him, and he said, "Lisa, that bird probably wasnt alive after that truck...there was nothing you could do"

Even with that said, 5 years later...it still bothers me to no end....I Wish that truck wasnt right there..I probably coulda scooped the bird up into my lap out of the drivers side door.

[Tishrei]

this is so sad. I also had a similar experience. I was on the city street in Los Angeles at a dead stop (traffic light). Anyway, there was a car coming from the opposite direction and I saw him hit a bird. They bird lay there flapping but was obviously totally injured. I jumped out of my car with something, picked him up and took him to the vet. Unfortunately by the time we got to the vet, he had died.

I'll never forget him laying on the floor of my car looking at me before he finally breathed his last.

[Syaoransbear]

I found a sparrow by the side of the road that had been hit by a car. He seemed okay, but his one eye was blind and he couldn't fly anymore. He appeared to have brain damage. I took him to my house and he hopped around in circles eating seeds and drinking water fine. He suddenly died a week later.

[4HAND]

Twenty two years ago I hit a duck on the road.When I pulled over I found her dead,but her eleven babies were very upset.I crawled through the culvert until I found them all,making quacking noises and listening for responses.I raised them in an aquarium till they were big enough and brought them to a petting zoo.I remember it like it was yesterday.
Tena

[huntress]

Oh so familiar, but mine wasnt a bird. Here I am 41 and still remember it like yesterday as well. I was a child on vacation in a big MH and we were stopped up in traffic and two bunnies crossed the road. The second decided to go back (as bunnies do) and was hit and killed instantly. The first bunny was sitting in the tall grass looking in the direction of which his companion had been following. Gosh it was so sad.

[Courtzrocks]

I have seen that many times...sooo bad...one was a SC cockatoo flying along with the cars...I felt sick not knowing what happened.

I hit a Tawny Frogmouthone night, was sitting in the middle of the road just over a hill..went straight over it. Screeched the car to stop, ran out BAWLING my eyes out, laying on its back with its wings spread out..Crying got worse, touched it and it was still alive so I picked it up and drove it home with me, made a bed of towels in the bathroom for it to die in...went to grab it (was sitting on the floor puffing) and it started hissing at me!! So I grabbed it and put it on my arm, was stretching out its wings to see if one was limping..they were ok..then it took off INSIDE THE HOUSE!!! Here's me 11:30pm running after this tawny frogmouth...finally got it and put it on my arm and went outside...did it want to fly then? NO. Shook my arm a bit..shook my arm alot..nothing, finally i ended up grabbing it and throwing it and it flew away YAY!!! So relieved...I aish I had someone there to take a pic of it on my arm, i felt so cool.

[greencinacheeks]

my experience doesn't have bird involved but i was driving home from the bird store one day and in the middle of the road was a cat...and so i stopped to get it quickly but as i got out of my car i saw an SUV hit it head on...the didn;t die from the hit though. but then another car hit it......

i was upset for a long time after that.

~N

[swanwillow]

okay, heres a good story.
I'm 16, just got my license. I'm rounding a corner and -Oh shoot, theres grouse in the road. I couldn't stop, one went under the car. I had slowed down... so when I looked in the rear-view mirror

I got a good look at one startled grouse sticking its head back up and looking around at what had just happened. Oh, that was great.

But, animals are attracted to my car. I won't talk about all of the animals I've killed.

[Abyssinian1]

Originally Posted by Tishrei

this is so sad. I also had a similar experience. I was on the city street in Los Angeles at a dead stop (traffic light). Anyway, there was a car coming from the opposite direction and I saw him hit a bird. They bird lay there flapping but was obviously totally injured. I jumped out of my car with something, picked him up and took him to the vet. Unfortunately by the time we got to the vet, he had died.

I'll never forget him laying on the floor of my car looking at me before he finally breathed his last.

I think it says something about the character of a person as to what they do in a situation like that. The driver of the car that hit that bird probably never looked back, or if he/she did, they might have thought "It's only a bird".

You, however, stopped, took the bird into your car and took on the responsibility of trying to get medical attention for it. Even though the bird died, at the least, you were there for it and it died in the presence of someone who cared. There probably wasn't anything you could have done save for what you did and maybe that is enough. Please don't beat yourself up.

It is too bad that in most states, motor vehicle laws are such that if the choice is to either swerve to avoid an animal and possibly cause an accident or hit the animal and keep traffic flowing the law requires that you hit the animal. I remember about ten years ago I had an ex-fiancee who lived in Nederland (it's about 20 minutes up Boulder Canyon on Hwy 19 going south by southwest). Boulder Canyon is very narrow in spots and it is hard enough trying to avoid the bikers up and down the length of it, let alone the wildlife I used to see along the side of the road. While driving at night I encountered mule deer, an elk, raccoon, coyote and a couple of stray dogs wandering by the side of the road, sometimes grazing and sometimes just making their way up and down the canyon, using the shoulder as a pathway. The speed limit is 30 miles per hour, but I know from experience that the mountain dwellers and their big SUV's took that canyon at twice the posted speed. The way that people drive, as if they were entitled to their share of the road drove me nuts (no pun intended) and there were times, in my little 4-cylinder car, that I felt as if I was going to become a casualty of the road myself. Nothing like a big SUV with its brights on coming up at 60 mph behind you and not only tailgating you down the mountain but trying to force you onto the shoulder so that it can pass. I'm not sure what it is in some people's psyche's that goes haywire once they get behind the wheel of a car - it is if personal responsibility and accountability for safety go out the window.