So what do you do if you hit an animal?

[gritsar]

Quote:
Keith used to just drive "through" crows and other birds in the road too, stating that they will fly to get out of the way. That was he did, until the buzzard incident.

Driving in his patrol car on the way back to town after visiting with a murder victims family he didn't slow down for a couple of buzzards in the road "snacking". One flew up and away, the other was too weighted down by his meal to fly up and away fast enough, so it....jettisoned...its meal all over the patrol car, snarting at the front end, up over the roof and light bar and down the back window and trunk. Took many, many quarters at the car wash to take care of that mess. Keith said the stink was worse than most anything he's ever experienced.

The other day we were driving on the county road near our farm when we came upon several HUGE buzzards in the road, dining. Keith stopped to give them time to fly off. I asked him, aren't you going to just drive through them? I got stinkeye'd.

 

[fuzziebutt]

The only deer that we have hit and killed, we have eaten. I hit a puppy in the road once, and stopped and told the house it was in front of. They took it to the vet. I checked back about a week later, and they said that the puppy was just stunned, and had a busted lip, but it wouldn't even go out the front door anymore. It would go out in back, then right back in!

 

[silkielover5]

my dad saw a horse that got hit and somebody just left it on the side of road it was still alive but sufering so my dad drove home got our gun and shot it. the person who left it there is so irresposible and crual. this guy hit my dog last year didnt even check to see if he was alright just walked up to my house and said "do you have a little white dog?, well i just hit him with my truck and i dont know if hes dead or not but im late for something so i got to go" he worked for UPS and was speeding on up our neighberhood road, that night my dad called and got the guy fired, saddest day of my life i was 13 and home alone and he was my baby.... he was dead when i ran down there...

 

[Fierlin1182]

Quote:
Oh man, that's a terrible story about your dog! I'm sorry to hear that happened

As for me... if I hit an animal I honestly don't know what I'd do. I don't have a gun, or a knife one me, so I'd probably move it to the side of the road where it could at least be out of further harm's way. Maybe knock it over the head with a rock to try to put it out of its misery, if it was something like a horse or dog I'd call the police. But we get a lot of roadkill around here, like kangaroos and that sort.

 

[melodie_a]

My cousin's dog got out of their fence a few months ago and was hit by someone. The man came up to the house and told his wife who was home alone with their infant and she of course was all to pieces because the dog was very important to my cousin. The man left her (she weighs maybe 100 lbs soaking wet) to get a full grown GSD out of the road by herself and into the car to the vet where it had to be euthanized. He came back a few hours later unfortunately before my cousin got off of work and when she answered the door he handed her a $300.00 bill for repairs to his car and said if she didn't go that day to the place to pay the bill he was going to go to the police and going to sue them for a whole lot more... he got very ugly about it.

She was so upset at that point about the dog in the first place and the man really scared her the way he was acting that she went and paid it. I wish her husband was home when he came back there. He is a very big guy and I am thinking that he wouldn't have been as easily intimidated. My cousin went up to the repair shop and they said some of the damage they fixed was definitely not caused by hitting a dog. They didn't know the situation at all, they just knew that someone else brought in the money to pay off the bill.


They aren't even sure how the dog got out of the fence in the first place, they are thinking that someone had to open the gate on purpose to let it out because it was in a very secure fence. They have had some trouble with some wild teens in the neighborhood so they think it may have been one of them.

 

[Quinn4321]

Only animal we ever hit was a deer. It jumped in front of us, on Christmas eve. My mom, being a vet, tried to put it down, as we broke its hind legs. It had so much adrenaline in it took 4x the amount we use to put down a horse to kill the poor thing. It was awful.

 

[Carols Clucks]

Quote:
Just so she knows, if her dog is in the street and some one hits it, they are liable for damages to the car (or medical bills too). The car owner is NOT responsible for the vet bills.


I know I felt horrible when I hit a cocker spaniel (I have one) that had gotten out of the temporary fencing they had around their house. He saw my car, a green version of their blue car, and ran as happy as could be toward me. I was only going about 20mph and hit both the dog and the curb trying to avoid the dog. The neighbors across the street saw what happened. The said they had warned the neighbors several times about the plastic fencing not holding the dogs in, it had been up for a couple of weeks. The dog ran off in to a deep gully. The owners were no were to be found and I had a car load of little kids all crying about the doggie. The neighbors took my info to give to the owners. Never heard from either, I should have stopped to see if the dog was okay. I would not have paid their vet bill, and I did not ask for the money it cost to fix my car.

 

[SourRoses]

I hit a little blue bird once

It had been flying up off the ground so I didn't slow down.. but then it dropped fast, must have been a current, and landed right in front of one of my tires. I couldn't swerve because of cars in the other lane when it dropped. I actually screamed and then pulled over into a parking lot to bawl and call my mommy (LOL). My stupid passenger was not thrilled with my feelings on the matter.


When I was about 10... We had a little Shi-tzu I had grown up with named Bandit. We had 5 acres way at the very end of a road that ended in an active quarry. Those trucks were back and forth at all hours everyday. While my mom and I were away, my father took Bandit for a walk. He always let him run up the drive to pee on the mailbox

but he said he was watching as the dump truck slowed, swerved (into our driveway as the mailbox was at least a car length down the drive) and hit Bandit who was peeing on the mailbox AND plowed over the mailbox... then the truck went on it's way without stopping.

My father never saw the truck number or license... but he and my teenaged brother had to scrape Bandit off the driveway with a shovel.


So no... I'd never swerve to hit an animal... pet or not, there is SOMEONE BIG who cares about it. But if I hit an animal that was too far gone and in pain, I would help it along however I could. I would never not stop when safe to do so.

 

[flyjam1979]

I once had a deer, 10 point buck, run into my car, hit front quarter panel, bouce up on hood and fall into ditch, scared the heck outta me, cause i saw it running at my pass. side door and thought oh lord it's going to come in!! anyway it fell into ditch and flopped around like a catfish outta water. i was inside city limits, but barely and right in front of someone's house. i go knock on door, they peep out and ask me why i hit their mailbox! i say no it was a deer, plz call the cops it is suffering, cops come argue about which one is going to see if it is alive, then ask me if i have a deer license, i say yes but i already shot one ( very puny compared to one i killed with my car) so they say you get pic thats all, deer goes to food pantry after processed at local meat processor. now if i had been closer to home, not in city limits i might have taken him home..........maybe i dunno..........i only swerve if not real hard or lots of traffic etc. me first then animals, but it truefully makes me angry for people to run over box turtles, you can't really say it ran right out in front of me for pete's sake, earlier this year someone sped up and swerved to hit my hubby's dog, and he died. not cool at all.

and i agree coons do alot of damage esp. if you drive something small like my hubby's daewoo lanos, animals like to commit suicide with his car alot.........lol

 

[ChooksinChoppers]

but it truefully makes me angry for people to run over box turtles,

Oh me too! I was an airport driver and travelled the 4 lane divided Rd leading to the Airport with a Canal on either side several times a day, poor turtles cant get over the curb in the center. I would see cars deliberatley run over the turtle..not swerve or anything but center it under their car, when they could have EASILY changed lanes...not realising I suppose that the shell was taller than the undercarriage and it would get dragged along under the car...Grrrrrrr! I was always stopping and helping them over the darn curbs and out of harms way.​