A Terrible Trip to the Dog Park
Warning: this post is graphic and sad.
To get to Dry Creek, one of our favorite dog park-type trails, we go down a windy road in a residential area. Once I found a dog crossing the road in front of my car. Luckily, I didn’t hit him and was able to reunite him with his family. Today, a squirrel wasn’t so lucky. The car in front of me must have hit him. When I came upon him, he was wriggling on his back and bleeding profusely.
I stopped. What to do? I thought of trying to scoop him up and take him to the wildlife sanctuary, but as he didn’t seem to be able to get off his back and the blood was really flowing, I decided he probably wouldn’t survive the trip. And what if he bit me?
Making the decision to put that squirrel out of his misery was extremely difficult. I didn’t want blood on my hands, but someone had to do it, and the sooner, the better. I did what had to be done. I feel awful about it, but I know it was the right thing to do. I have never before deliberately killed an animal, but now I know how the euthanasia tech feels – at least when he or she needs to euthanize a badly injured animal. I couldn’t imagine euthanizing an animal who had nothing wrong. How are there people in almost every municipality across the country willing to do it?
This is indeed a sad story and I’m right along with you wondering how folks who euthanize pets for a living have the strength to do their jobs. I know they must have a heart full of compassion for the animals and strive to make their last moments as comfortable and peaceful as possible.