A moment in the life...

[draggonlaady]

It's dusk. I'm crouched in the grass, right hand holding a bloody knife, left hand supporting the chin of the deer who's throat I just slit. Left knee braced against the doe's shoulder, stretching her neck so she'll bleed out faster. All quiet, if not exactly peaceful.

A mini-van, driven by a pleasant looking, middle-aged lady in lawyer's-office-style casual suit pulls up. The lady very politely asks if everything's ok, or if I need some help, and we have a brief chat about living in the country and deer and animals in general. The whole time, I'm still crouched on the doe.

Does anybody else have these totally weird moments where civilized life randomly overlaps with the necessary macabre?

Comments

[funranium.livejournal.com]

I have dropped a log to crush the skull of a fawn who's back had been broken by a car hit.

I miss the night blooming jasmine, but little else about delivering newspapers in the dead of night on a rural route.

[evil-egg.livejournal.com]

Well, that'd be a bizarre way to see off the day.

[sphynx-again.livejournal.com]

A few months back, there was a moose that had been hit on the highway. Her hindquarters were nearly useless, but she had managed to drag herself quite some distance into the wheat fields. We had many, many calls to the humane society about why she hadn't been taken care of, and for each caller I could only tell them to call the Sheriff's office. Finally, shortly before dusk, I called the Sheriffs office myself to complain, not about the moose, but about the fact that I'm getting so many phone calls about the moose, and that I'm the one getting yelled at because nobody will go out there and take care of her. That finally got some action, and I had to go out and meet the deputy to show him where she was lying so he could shoot her. I felt really bad for the deputy, his rifle was woefully underpowered for large game, and it took 5 shots to finish her. When he came back up to the cars, he looked pretty drained.

You were very kind and very strong to do what you did for that doe. I'm not sure I could have done the same. So far, the few times I've been behind some idiot who hits an animal with his car and then doesn't stop, I've just gotten out, held the cat quietly in my arms, and they've died within a minute. Though I did have to kill a mouse once with a shovel after my cat had skinned him alive and then lost interest.

[sphynx-again.livejournal.com]

I'd forgotten about the blindfold trick. Haven't been around large animals in years.

Have you ever met our shelter cat Joey? She was stepped on by a pot-bellied pig at about 5 weeks old, mostly paralyzing her hindquarters. She's almost 4 years old now, and does just great at the shelter. She can climb the scratching post, get into the window napper, on the desk, and despite having very little use of her back legs, that cat can MOVE! She even caught a hamster that excaped one night.

As for the moose, the whole thing was one lousy situation. Her hindquarters were not terribly useful, but they weren't completely dead, either. Very much like Joey. And also like Joey, that moose could still move quite enough to warrant a healthy dose of caution. Getting very close to her wasn't an option. I couldn't really tell how close the deputy got, as I was in my car up on the road, trying to keep headlights aimed and doing some good. And it was at the very edge of my high-beams limit too. Part of me wonders if we shouldn't have just left her alone. But then again, the real and natural world isn't the safe little world of the shelter where Joey lives. I'm surprised the coyotes didn't get her the first night, but they almost certainly would have the next night, as she was moving up the ridge closer to the treeline.

Yes, I will agree that it would have been much better if the responding deputy had more skills and experience in this matter. But considering that the sheriff's office had been recieving calls on this moose for over 24 hours, I'm just glad somebody finally responded at all!