Hitting Animals on country roads.

Crossy

Crossy

Crossy

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23 Oct 2006
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Newcastle, The Toon
I was out with a friend last night doing some country driving and we hit a baby fox. There was nothing we could have done. As soon as we saw it he hit the brakes and started to skid (1.1 saxo no abs). We both felt terrible afterwards. Luckily there was no damage to his car but we decided to go back to make sure it was dead. And i think that's the worst decision we made. The poor thing was still alive. Trying to hobble into the bushes, but one of his back legs was trailing the ground. It was so bad, i felt actually sick. I really wanted to put the poor thing out of its misery but i just couldn't. My friend was really shook up and had to stop for 5 at the side of the road. I know the response ill get will be "oh i hit them all the time" and "its only one fox" which i understand. It is just a fox but it was the first time we'd both hit something. And we both felt ill. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to hit another human. :(

Ryan
 
My friend hit a baby rabbit the other day, again like you there was nothing she could have done, but she rang me in tears crying over what she'd done.

I convinced her the bunny had miximatosis and was gonna die soon anyway.

Its cos all the baby animals have now left their Mums and are fending for themselves, guess they werent listening the day Mummy gave them the lesson about crossing the road.
 
I understand. I nearly had to put a bird out of it's misery after flying into my bedroom window at full speed. My uncle said it was still alive but by the time I went out to it, it had died. Not sure if I could have finished it off.

Not sure what I would have done in your situation. Probably the same.
 
know excactly how you feel. i dont think i could have put the poor thing out of misery myself. :( watching something die would hit me hard too and then id be thinking about it all night aswell.

i generally slow down when driving around here now and havn't hit anything for approx 2 years now.

at least it wasn't an adult, hit these and the chance of the cubs surviving is significantly lowered.
 
knip said:
My friend hit a baby rabbit the other day, again like you there was nothing she could have done, but she rang me in tears crying over what she'd done.

I convinced her the bunny had miximatosis and was gonna die soon anyway.

Its cos all the baby animals have now left their Mums and are fending for themselves, guess they werent listening the day Mummy gave them the lesson about crossing the road.
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Yeah, makes it worse when you appreciate nature and love animals. On a plus side, i saw 2 badgers for the very first time.
 
I hit a badger on Thursday, but went straight over it, felt terrible but didnt go back. Looked in the rear view mirror and could see it rolling about :( drove back the next day on the way to work and it was dead at the side of the road so hopefully it didnt suffer too much. I didnt want to take the risk of swerving or braking hard as to not endanger other road users.
 
panthro said:
I hit a badger on Thursday, but went straight over it, felt terrible but didnt go back. Looked in the rear view mirror and could see it rolling about :( drove back the next day on the way to work and it was dead at the side of the road so hopefully it didnt suffer too much. I didnt want to take the risk of swerving or braking hard as to not endanger other road users.
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Exactly. That what i was saying to my mate. Atleast you didnt swerve into a tree or ditch. Endangering our lives and others.
 
Crossy said:
Yeah, makes it worse when you appreciate nature and love animals. On a plus side, i saw 2 badgers for the very first time.
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Yeah :( I haven't had the misfortune of hitting anything yet, touch wood, if I did though I'd probably have to stop and take 5 too. The closest I've come is running over a squirrel, as in literally going over him so that the wheels didn't touch him.. Except I looked in my rear view mirror and he was nowhere to be seen. Probably hung onto the bottom of my old car still, slowly sabotaging it ;)
 
I've hit a Pigeon, Fox and a blackbird since I've been driving.

When I hit the pigeon it was fine, just **** itself on my windscreen and carried on going.
The fox went straight under and there wasn't even time to brake, it ran out about 6 feet infront of me as I was doing 40. I know it died straight away because my mate was following me on his motocrosser and when we pulled in at the next garage he was wearing most of it....

The blackbird is actually the one that made me feel the worst, It was chasing another one and obviously wasn't concentrating on me coming along, swooped down and hit my bumper. Lots of feathers and it was lay in the road, obviously dead. I carried on but kept wondering if it was one with babies etc.

I'd hate to hit a rabbit, after having them as pets as a child I think they're lovely. But they aren't half dumb when they just sit there at the side of the road munching on the grass verge!
 
MrSix said:
I've hit a Pigeon, Fox and a blackbird since I've been driving.

When I hit the pigeon it was fine, just **** itself on my windscreen and carried on going.
The fox went straight under and there wasn't even time to brake, it ran out about 6 feet infront of me as I was doing 40. I know it died straight away because my mate was following me on his motocrosser and when we pulled in at the next garage he was wearing most of it....

The blackbird is actually the one that made me feel the worst, It was chasing another one and obviously wasn't concentrating on me coming along, swooped down and hit my bumper. Lots of feathers and it was lay in the road, obviously dead. I carried on but kept wondering if it was one with babies etc.

I'd hate to hit a rabbit, after having them as pets as a child I think they're lovely. But they aren't half dumb when they just sit there at the side of the road munching on the grass verge!
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Yeah that reminds me. A bird once flew into my windscreen and done the same thing. **** and buggered off. I also couldn't hit a Rabbit. We have one and i think there great animals. But we encountered dozens last night, just grazing, and a couple sort of swerving about the road..
 
Absolute nightmare :(

I thought I'd hit a squirrel once... felt awful for a good few hours afterwards. There was no splat mark on the road when I went back the next day so I hope it had escaped.
 
Hit and killed a fox in my Civic last year (with virtualy no damage amazingly) but that was the first thing I'd hit in in 11 years on my daily commute. I stopped to make sure it was dead and dragged it into the gateway of a field to get it off the road. Felt terrible afterwards, but I did everything I could to avoid it, and would have missed it except it got about two thirds across the road and then changed it's mind and ran back again.
 
Squirrels are dumb... I had one run out in front of me so I slowed down, but instead of running back into the bushes, it just ran further into the road and I ended up squishing it :(
 
Animals are so stupid.

I was driving down a county lane at night the other week and a hare ran out into the road. I had full beam on so saw it and slowed right down to about 15/20mph. The thing just ran and ran in the middle of the road. It eventually dived into the hedge and I could go past.

I love animals and would hate to hit something like that!
 
At this time of the year I used to hit several animals a week when I liked in North Yorkshire. I wouldn’t worry too much about it.
 
I feel so bad for you :(

In my first week i nearly hit a cat, i felt shook up. God knows how bad you guys felt!

They are silly tho, i mean the cat waited for me to get close then darted into the road :rolleyes:
 
Yea I hit a rabbit a couple of years back, had to go back and run over it again because it was in a mess, felt awful.

I slow down now on the country roads back to my house, especially after two deer decided to jump out on me last month, 4pots for the win.
 
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