Rescueing animals or at least stopping

[Maxi'sMinis]

Today on the way home from the store for some Nyquil cause I have bad chest cold I passed and slowed to take a close look at an Opposum on the side of the road. It was seriously wounded. I drove on because I had no where to put it in my little car. I got home and laid down in bed where I found I couldn't stop thinking about that little animal suffering there to death. I got dressed and went back in my truck picked it up, it was still alive. I work for vets so have the means to put the animal down, which I did and laid it deep in the woods near my house.

I always get so upset, my family thinks I am nuts. Last week I rescued and release a little brown bat. The week before there was a deer. Every time I turn around there is another animal. It seems like no one cares anymore. Once in while when I stop for an animal there will be another soul stop too and we exchange feelings without even speaking.

Am I to sensitive or are these the right things to do? It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't get so upset over it, many times balling my eyes out as I put an animal down. I just feel like God has asked this of me, to be there for the little creatures that can't help themselves.

Of course there are also the many domestic animals too!

Does anyone else do these things?

 

[Minimor]

No you're not too sensitive, and yes, helping these animals...it's the right thing to do. At least I think it's the right thing to do. I am the same way.

It upsets me no end that so many people just don't care.

You are a good person!

 

[Miniv]

Mary, We have rarely come across situations like you describe, but I would like to think we would also try to relieve the animal's suffering. It seems you are having things like that happen to you more than most........and perhaps for a reason. We can't save every living thing.........We can't ease all the suffering, but we can help where we can in our own small part of the world. That's where it starts.

Thank you for doing what you can.........Bless you.

 

[River Wood]

I have many stories I could share but....a few summers ago...I found in one of the stalls in my barn, a baby bird that had been kicked out of the nest. It didn't even have feathers, it was the size of a newborn hamster.

I put on some gloves and picked it up and it was still alive. I knew this baby bird would never live but how was I going to just toss this living creature aside to die cold and alone.

I took it and put it in a little plastic container filled with cotton balls and covered it gently with cotton balls so that it least it felt safe and warm when it died which I knew it would.

Husband looked at me with one eyebrow raised like what on earth are you doing....but deep down he knew that that is just the kind of person that I am....(and I know that is one of the things that he loves about me)

You are absolutely NOT too sensitive Maxi'sMinis !!

 

[AppyLover2]

What you do for each of these animals is a blessing to them. To save the ones you can and to relieve the suffering of the others is something to be very proud of.

 

[StellaLenoir]

Maxi'sMinis,

wow I just want to say thank you from all the animals you have helped!

I do pet rescue, and have found a few injured wildlife which I helped but nothing like you describe.

You are WONDERFUL!! I think lots of people are scared of wild animals, and 'let nature take its course' even if they are suffering. For you to go back and get that poor animal is such a kind thing.

thank you!!!

 

[rockin r]

Guilty as described for me too! I have picked up hawks and took them to the people that we bought pur house from 7 years ago. He works for Ok. wildlife dept. I saw a deer in a fence a few years ago, had a HHR full of groceries, so I went home unloaded got Art and went back to get the deer. We were to late, some jerk had gotten her out of the fence and was gutting her. Apparently he had shot her (out of season) said to us that that was all the food he had and not to turn him in. We did anyways, because we knew he was lying to us, and he was. I have always brought home injured or dead animal since I can remember.. My dad said to me when I was 12,"If you don't get into heaven beacuse of the decent life you should lead, you will surley get in because of the compasion that you have for animals". Good for you! It takes 1 minute of our time to help these creatures. They may be a pain in neck most of the time, but they deserve better than to be left on the side of the road....

 

[Reijel's Mom]

Nope, not too sensitive. Just think how nice our world would be if everyone was sensitive like that. Lots of people think I'm crazy for how I feel about animals, too, saying "well there's plenty more ____________________ where that came from". Well, guess what - each living creature is thinking/feeling and there is no reason any should have to suffer if we can do something about it.

 

[HGFarm]

Oh guilty here too... have picked up all kinds of stuff from dogs and cats to a goat, a baby javelina, a dove with one wing, etc...... Some were saved but many had to be put down that could not be helped, but I just cant leave them there to suffer and die. Had to call in the troops for the buffalo though (that made the news) when it had escaped from the residence where it was kept and the owner didnt bother to go get it and it was out in the neighborhood, kids chasing it (

), no available feed or water and had been out for 3 weeks. We trapped it, brought feed and water and the newscast prompted the owner do something to come and get it. You are doing the right thing- people think I'm nuts too, but I just couldnt live with myself if I left them. My brain doesnt ALLOW me to ignore them!!!

 

[horsefeather]

I would like to add my THANKS to all who try to help. I have done my share when I could. A month or so ago while driving to the store, I noticed 2 little twin fawns standing fairly close to the road. I slowed down and saw that their mother had been hit and killed and layed in the ditch by the road. It broke my heart. I knew there was nothng I could do but on the way home I again slowed (as I was going to shoo the babies back in the woods) but they had already gone back and as I passed I just saw a tiny face peering out of the woods. I cried all the way home. I never saw the twins again (I travel this road lots) and could only hope they found other deer to be with. I still tear up when I pass that spot. I'll never forget the look in their eyes when I first saw them. They were so confused and you could just see them wondering what happened to their momma. So, no, you are NOT too sensitive.

Pam

 

[Maxi'sMinis]

Thank you all so much. Just a little bit of yeah that is the right thing to do can keep a person going. There are always so many animals and yes the ones you can't help are the ones that haunt you. I have a real soft spot for cats and it just kills me to drive by the ones you know you can't catch or they will run into traffic. So many deer, we are in an area were the deer are everywhere.. It is like driving a gauntlet at 4:30 am. I commute with my hubby and I drive him crazy rescuing animals. We rescued 3 BIG snapping turtles at different times this past summer. Hubby caught them and put them in a pillow case. We took them to a huge creek full of fish. Even though it is the toughest thing to do to put an animal down when that needs to be done, it is also rewarding when you can release a wild animal into an environment you know they won't get run over by a car. There are the rewards but more so the loses. Thank you all again for your replies and reasurance it has helped me greatly.

12/29 I didn't want to add a whole nother reply but I wanted to tell one more small thing that happened to me this past summer when driving out to a doc appt. I was late and of course there was road work I had to stop and sit in for 15mins. Just after the road work scattered on the side of the road was a lilttle mother oppossum and all of her 5 babies dead. It just racked me to my core. I could hardly drive for crying. I just love our only marsupial! Well I drove on to the docs and was back to the same spot in about 45mins. I stopped to just be sure there were no babies left motherless. Well when I pulled up they were all gone. I got out and walked along the line of the woods to be sure no little orphans were there. The whole time my daughter is thinking I'm a real basket case. Well some one had stopped and picked up all the little bodies and laid them up near the tree line with the little mother and her 5 little babies laying on top of her just as they would have been if alive. I was really balling then. Just knowing that someone else took the time to stop and pick them up off the raod and so carefully lay them together. I was so taken by the caring humanity I didn't think really existed to much around here. Unfortunately I didn't find any babies that might have made it away from there mother after she got hit. So here and there you all are right there are the ones that stop and show just a little compassion. God bless all of you animal lovers!

 

[Mercysmom]

We have rescued snapping turtles out of the road... and our pond has been a way station for painted turtles we have rescued.

Almost forgot about Jeff, the feral cat my husband (Mr. "Don't-bring-home-anymore-animals"

) brought home. Jeff is now living the high life- curled up on my bed, a full dish of food, neutered and vaccinated with a bill of good health, even after he gave me a nasty bite that got infected and landed me in the hospital. Other folks might have given up on rehabilitating him but Jeff was worth it - he has good manners now, all from getting some love!

What a great thread!

Denise

 

[A Yankee In NC]

I totally understand you. I no longer work at a vet and so my options are a bit fewer ...but I feed all of the stray dogs along my route to work. While I am unable to catch them and get the tamed and homes...at least I know that they are not hungry.

It kills me to see thin, starving animals..

I spend what should be my lunch money on "Stray Dog Food" each week. It is well worth the sacrifice.

 

[ErikaS.]

Don't despair, there are more of us out there. I own several roadside cats and throwaway dogs and a couple of "nobody-else-wanted" goats. I try to save every fallen fledgling or rodent my cats get ahold of. Sometimes it's in vain, but God knows I tried. In fact, that's why God puts these creatures in our path; because he knows we will care and do our best.

 

[CyndiM]

Thank you for what you do for the animals. People like you make the world a better place.

 

[yankee_minis]

I found a dying chipmunk on the road one time when I was a young teenager. I felt so bad for it. Its eyes were still moving. I put it gently down and got back on my bike. Later on I thought how much better it would have been for it if I had put it out of its misery. I went back and it wasn't there.

Adopted a hurt bird but mother would let me bring it in the house. I was like 5. So I put a little shelter over it and reluctantly went to bed when I was told. Next morning it was gone. Still wonder if it recovered or if it was eaten?

Feral cats when I was little. Got way up in numbers- 20? I had named them all. My father went out one day and killed them all. I sobbed and sobbed.

Mice, too. They get rescued. In my grain bin? Oh, here's a lead rope so you can crawl out when I'm gone.

Mostly now it's teenagers. They end up at my house when they become homeless.

 

[MinisOutWest]

Which cat do I mention?

-The lovely black n white Hym in Stillwater,Ok at the show starving, they would lock her in the colisiem for 2 weeks, no food or water, she rode great for 15 hours back to CO.

-Or the Siamese that lived at the truck stop, I saw her 7 times when driving thru an eastern CO town, when trucks would stop, she'd run to the truckers and beg for food, one guy kicked her in the face, that was it, I scooped her up and she is one of the most lovingest cats in the world. that ride was only 5 hours.

- the grey persian- he grew up thinking he was a girl, Pixie, then when they dumped him, thank god at a sheter, he ended up being a boy, mats so thick, i shaved him bald. that ride was 4.5 hours.

- the 4 feral kittens born in a barn, we had to take them from their feral mom and bottle feed them.

-or the beautiful Hym Siamese that someone put in a box and left , he was a 6 week old kitten in the parking lot of WalMart.

-and finally, the stray black cat with a cut off ear, just realized they catch feral cats , neuter them, cut the ear off and turn loose, had him 2 months now, would never tell he was feral, he loves attention, you leave and he bear hugs your leg for a ride wanting you to stay.

Oh yeah, our dog is a ditch dog, if that gives you a hint where we found her at as a puppy.

I will make this promise and my husband already knows, if I ever get out of minis, we are opening up a cat home in the barn like our neighbor, they have over a hundred cats with this cool outdoor pen. Its like 2 stories tall, with trees and 15 ft tall kitty towers, its 65 x 150 ft, all chain linked in, even the roof, so the cats can go outside from the huge heated barn they are in and catch birdies. they love it. And I love kitties.

 

[Maxi'sMinis]

Angela your a woman after my heart. The last cat I rescued there was 2 feet of snow on the ground and we were driving in a long line of traffic. Up ahead I saw a spot in the road, there was a car stopped on the side. When we pasted OVER the spot it was a kitten about 5 weeks old. We screached to a hault and I ran back. The other fella that had stopped had already plucked the kitty from the middle of the road and was holding him by the scruff at his car. I said you want that he said NO and I wisked him away and stuffed him in my coat. At least 8 cars passed over that kitten at 60+ MPH!!!!! He was a little bag of bones and couldn't of had a day left in that weather. He is now a contankerous 4 year old that bullies everyone. His name is SPEEDY!

 

[Rebecca]

Without a doubt, it's the right thing to do, we as humans owe this to these poor creatures. I understand, it's impossible to ignore an animal suffering. Probably the way I've been brought up. We've rescued and raised a baby robin, sparrows that fell out of a hay loft, flying squirrels, a huge salamander (9 inches long) that was, for unknown reasons, in the snow, countless mice and chipmunks saved from our feline's fangs, and of course our much-loved domestic animals.