One of the worst experiences in my life

[MissPinUp]

I’m the kind of girl who moves animals off of the road.  Turtles in a summr storm?  I move them so they don’t get hit, they look like rocks.  Whistle pigs?  I honk at them, pull over next to them, anything to get them to move.  I will run my car into a tree to avoid hitting an animal.  In any event, I was on my way home from work around 9pm, so it was extremely dark.   There’s a creek by my house, and I know there’s a TON of wild bunnies that hang out around that area.  The road I take is not a busy one at all, and I was honestly surprised when I ended up the third in a line of three cars.  I’m normally the only one on the road.  At the front of the line was an SUV, then a Jetta, then me.  In the light of the headlights, I saw a bun run across in front of the SUV.  My heart stopped.  I didn’t see the bun make it across to the right side.  The Jetta in front of me swerved violently, as did I.  The SUV hit the bun.  I don’t know if there’s anything he could have done, I don’t know if he even realised he did it.  He didn’t break or anything.  That sides, I turned around about 20 feet down, into our elementary school’s parking lot.  This happened almost right in front of the school.  I pulled to turn out of the school, put my car in park, put my four ways and brights on a little to the side of him.  He was still alive.  I went up to check him out and turned away to vomit.  His back legs were almost torn off.  He was still alive though.  At this point I was running on adreneline.  I ran and got a blanket out of my trunk, a big fluffy one, and I picked him up gently.  I knew he would die, but I wasn’t sure when, and I didn’t want him dying alone in a desloate street, or even worse, getting run over again.  I don’t know why I did it.  I think I was honestly in shock.  I picked him up into the blanket.  I drove home and yelled for my mom to come out.  She came out and asked me what was going on.  I said the man a few cars ahead of me hit a bunny.  I didn’t have to say anymore, she got her keys and we got into her car.  I held the bunny and called my emergency vet.  He gave me a clinic that was open and told me to take him there, that they’d take him (and put him out of his misery).  My mom tried to make me feel better by saying how much life he had in his eyes and how excitable he was, but I knew as well as she did that he was in shock as well.  By the time we got to the emergency office, about 3 miles away, he began to pant.  I had a pet mouse die in my hands before, and she panted right before she passed.  My mother, again trying to make me feel better, said he was just hot.  I tried not to listen because I knew it wasn’t true.  I called the clinic from the parking lot to tell them I was there, but they didn’t pick up on the first try.  Before I got to call again, he passed.  We drove to a wooded area about 5 miles from there and dropped him off, blanket and all.  

 

I know it seems silly to cry over something like that, but I am tonight.  After we dropped him off, I stopped crying.  Completely dried up.  That’s how I handle sad and upsetting situations, I don’t.  I ignore them.  But I really think I need to cry tonight at least a little, at least to honor him in an odd way.  My mother continued to tell me I did everything I could, but I still feel sad.  I don’t really know what my point was, but I guess it’s something in a similar vain to the other post on here, for the bunnies who never had a chance.  I know all of you do, but please tell your friends and family to watch when they’re driving

[MimzMum]

God bless you. That was a brave and kind thing to do.
“Even as you do to the least of these…you have done so to me.” (I know this verse from Matthew is to pertain to our fellow human beings, but I think it works well for our animal companions too.)

If the SUV driver was going fast enough to clip a running hare, then he was going much too fast for an approaching school zone also. Is there no signage on the side of the road to warn people?
Perhaps it could at least be petitioned to the city to put up a wildlife crossing sign or something? This just seems so sad.
Binky free little bun!

[mrmac]

That was so nice if you to do, be glad he wasnt left on the street to die. A very brave thing to do…you win the hero award!

[jerseygirl]

If it is any consolation to you, I think prey animals have a mechanism to cope with peril and pain. I don’t know for fact but I imagine they do. Like their ability to go into trance., I think that they have this as a survival or coping mechanism. So if a predator had them in their jaws, they can zone out (some ability their brains have if they find themselves in certain positions literally and figuratively?). Again, I don’t know if that is fact – it just makes me feel better believing it.

When I was 17 and learning to drive, my Father allowed me to drive on a interstate holiday on a relatively uncomplicated stretch of road. I was driving a van with my family onboard when I nearly hit a dog that ran onto our path. I braked hard and thankfully the dog crossed ok. My Dad calmly (amazing!) afterward told me it would be best to drive straight, don’t swerve or brake. As awful that sounded, imagine if I did swerve/brake, lost control my family injured or killed as a result? You only have a split second and it’s hard to override instinct to brake. I think you can safely avoid hitting an animal (braking or swerving) to a degree. I’ve always remembered that lesson. I also know my Dad would also euthanise an animal we had caused injury to if it was beyond other help.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

First *Kudos* Many people don’t care when they hit animals and won’t give a second thought about it. It was heartbreaking, but you gave that bunny comfort in his last minutes, instead of leaving him on a scary street.

I had a really similar experience, years ago before I even had rabbits. We found a jackrabbit that had been hit, he hadn’t been run over, but struck and was hemorraging etc (won’t go into details) the steet was super busy. He was running around in circles and we couldn’t catch him and couldn’t chase for fear he’d get inot the street (But it was obvious he had a brain injury). We finally figured to dump out a huge tupperware type container from my gf’s car and put it over him. Then we broke a sign down and slid that under. My parent’s arrived to help us take him to the vet, where they were able to put him to sleep. It was a very traumatic night, but I can only imagine yours was even more so *HUGS*

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