My reptilian breakdown.

[cagedbirdsinging]

I had to share this with some understanding folks.

I live in a very rural area with more wildlife than you can shake a stick at. You can't stand in the middle of the road and throw a rock in each direction without finding roadkill in that radius. No, that is not an exaggeration.

Part of that is because there is just SO much wildlife roaming about, but I am completely convinced that another part is ignorance and hateful drivers. I've heard plenty of second-hand encounters of people hitting animals intentionally on the road as if it were some sort of game.

Anyway, here I was, driving my way to work. It was early afternoon with plenty of light, so I had no problem spotting the moving rock in the middle of my lane. At around 200 feet, I was able to recognize it as a turtle. It was around 8 inches, if I had to guess. This turtle had places to go!

Now, normally you do not need to assist animals crossing the road. A simple slow-down will buy most mammals enough time to cross safely. This turtle, though, would need several minutes to cross and did not have those minutes! I put my 4-ways on and pulled just enough to the side of the road for folks to know that I was stopped, but not quite enough for them to pass me. Or so I thought.

I was jogging toward the turtle when a driver in a pick-up decided that they had somewhere to go and steered around me to get past. I think you know where I'm going with this.

I wasn't able to move the remains from the road because of the only grace to come of the incident. It didn't have suffer and the end was instantaneous.

I trudged back to my car, totally speechless. I drove forward to a place where I could pull over safely and out of sight of the incident. Turned the car off and just cried.

Granted, I'm a very emotional person and can/will cry over the simplest of things, but this upset me on a very deep level. This truck was plenty enough behind me to see that I had clearly pulled over and was out of my car and in my lane for a good reason. I want so deeply to believe that this was an accident, but I can't fathom how this person couldn't have seen what I was doing.

I believe that there is a reason for everything and that turtle clearly wasn't meant to make it, but that didn't stop my heart from breaking. I had myself a good cry and made it to work on time somehow.

 

[AliCat37]

People are sick. I've seen little prairie dogs hanging out eating grass before and people speed up to hit them. There are so many things I wish I could do to those people.
Unfortunately I had the exact same experience. I had pulled over to get a bull snake off the road and was just about to cross when a truck came up, and instead of slowing down, he sped up and hit it.

I can only hope that people who go out of their way to do things like that have a special place "downstairs" waiting just for them.

 

[diamondlil]

Such a sad story. So sorry you had to witness first hand a wanton and deliberate act of cruelty. Hopefully that driver will get karma one way or another

 

[Nanci]

I'm sorry. I hope that person rolls his truck and is ejected and run over by a semi.

I CANNOT STAND people who intentionally kill animals on the road. All you can do is just keep watching out for little ones that need your help. Sometimes you can save one.

 

[cagedbirdsinging]

Thanks for your words, gals.

I try to not put negative energy out, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't wish bad things upon the driver if this is truly as it seemed, a non-accident.

Since roadkill is so common here, I keep my eyes peeled. I always have my high beams on while driving at night to spot eyes as soon as possible for my and the animals' safety. We have so many nighttime roamers that just need a little extra time and attentiveness to cross the roads safely.

I don't like bad situations, but I hope that I have the potential to help save another life soon so that I might experience some sort of redemption feeling. This happened a few days ago, but I still can't get that turtle out of my mind.

 

[Nanci]

I'm the person who is going to die trying to avoid an animal. I can't help it. 90% of my driving attention is spent scanning the sides of the road for anything that might dart or fly out. I brake for squirrels. I brake for songbirds. I honk at every animal in the road- crows, vultures, squirrels. They just need a warning and a few more seconds to get away.

 

[chris68]

I pull turtles off the road Spring Summer and Fall. We had a tractor trailer driver unknowingly back over a diamondback terrapin that had wandered up on our lot. He was pretty upset that he didn't see it.

 

[Nythain]

I try to avoid animals... I really do. Bunnies are frakkin suicidal though, I've run off the road to avoid them only to have them b-line right for my tire . On a somewhat relative note, a friend of mine found out the hard way there are laws concerning transporting animals across state lines without proper licensing (For those that don't know, KC is in 2 states, Kansas and Missouri)... when he decided to tie a raccoon to the front of his car and drive around. Rather quickly got pulled over, hefty fine, and almost ended up in jail.

 

[Snickers]

Some people sicken me...

 

[Nythain]

I guess I should note ex-friend before people think I'm so sort of sick weirdo. I have a lot of ex-friends these days. Seems the older I get, the less tolerance for people I develop.

 

[cagedbirdsinging]

Glad you clarified that, Nythain.

People just...

I enjoy the company of animals far more than people. They can be so horrid.

 

[Ana Sofia R]

Poor guy :/

 

[Guruofchem]

Thanks for trying - though the outcome was not what anyone would want, you can live with yourself for doing right, even if others don't. Some real winners on the road these days...

 

[Rich Z]

I once saw a guy swerve to try to hit a rather good sized alligator crossing the road. Fortunately I was coming upon him from the other direction rather quickly, so he had to jump back into his lane before he could hit the gator. The idiot probably would have lost control of his pickup when he hit that animal at the speed he was going.

And yeah, I've seen cases where it was obvious that a vehicle had run over a snake, then backed up and run it over a few more times. Quite honestly, most believe they are doing their good deed for the day.

 

[Nythain]

Quite honestly, most believe they are doing their good deed for the day.

That's the really sad part. It's not bad enough they'll run over any "pest" without hesitation, but they actually think they're doing good! A lot of poor snakes in Missouri get killed by uneducated people just because they think they're copperheads or cotton mouths.

 

[starsevol]

That's the really sad part. It's not bad enough they'll run over any "pest" without hesitation, but they actually think they're doing good! A lot of poor snakes in Missouri get killed by uneducated people just because they think they're copperheads or cotton mouths.

I guess rocky mountain spotted fever, or hantavirus, or plague is preferred over snakes by the chronically stupid......

 

[CaseyH]

I'm so sorry that happened! I try to believe it is not intentional, although I know that happens all too often. In this case, is it possible that driver was paying attention to you and failed to notice the turtle?

I've seen a dog and a deer hit and it both cases it was clearly an accident. The semi driver that hit the deer seemed devastated. He pulled off the side of the road and had his head down.

It sounds like you are very observant and watchful for wildlife. Thank you for that, and I like to believe that brings you good karma. For those that deliberately run over, or otherwise harm animals, there is that other kind of karma.

Casey

 

[cagedbirdsinging]

I'm so sorry that happened! I try to believe it is not intentional, although I know that happens all too often. In this case, is it possible that driver was paying attention to you and failed to notice the turtle?

I've seen a dog and a deer hit and it both cases it was clearly an accident. The semi driver that hit the deer seemed devastated. He pulled off the side of the road and had his head down.

It sounds like you are very observant and watchful for wildlife. Thank you for that, and I like to believe that brings you good karma. For those that deliberately run over, or otherwise harm animals, there is that other kind of karma.

Casey

I can only hope that this was the case. I keep going over every detail in my head and I still have trouble coming up with a reason why the person wouldn't have seen the turtle because of its size and dark color compared to the very light road, but I still try to believe that this was an accident, if only for my sake.

I just can't imagine what would have happened if the turtle's life didn't end instantaneously. I'm a rather fragile person emotionally and I'm not sure how I would have handled that.

 

[Snickers]

Tssk tssk your ex friend is an interesting little freak.

 

[Myca]

You have to be very cruel inside have no respect for life at all. I've killed a few squirrels over the years. Generally, they get safely past and then turn around and run back under the car. My kids remember every one of them. I stop and pull every turtle I find off the road. I untangled a turkey out of a fence alongside the road. At a camp ground at a Florida state park, one of the rangers told me to run over every armadillo I came across. His reasoning was that they were an invasive species. Trying to follow this reasoning I asked who brought them into the area. He said they actually came themselves through Mexico. I told him, if they walked here, I think they came naturally.