Just pulling up to turn into my office this morning and there were loads of cars swerving to avoid something in the road.  It was a little bunny who blatantly had myxamatosis it was just spinning in circles and was blind - so I ran him over   It really was the kindest thing to do to put him out of his misery but you should have seen the looks I got

I forget that living in the country its a way of life, especially this time of year im constantly either running them over or "dispatching" ones the dogs bring back to me.  But the "townies" around here just think its a cutesy bunny and dont understand the pain its in :(

A few people from my building saw so I bet my name is mud - I did try to explain ........

You had the right intentions but unfortunately it wasnt very humane and i can see why people were offended. It is not something in would have been happy witnessing. Seeing as the council now have to come out to clear away the mess, it would have been better to call them to get someone to come out and humanely put it to sleep.

>it would have been better to call them to get someone to come out and humanely put it to sleep.

Please don't take this as sarcastic, but do you honestly believe that there is anyone on the Council who would be interested in providing that service? Or that they'll send someone out specifically to clear up the mess?

Well done to you Claire - not pleasant, but necessary.

M.

>but unfortunately it wasnt very humane

it would have been less humane to let it continue running in circles in pain, it died immediately rather than leaving it another possible 2 weeks to suffer.  I cant see the council coming out to "humanely" put a wild rabbit out of its misery, its difficult enough to get them to come out to clear away rubbish from fly tippers.

I am an animal lover through and through, sometimes that means doing things that appear to be against the grain but my thoughts are always with the animals.

Thank you Lily

>unfortunately it wasnt very humane

It was an instantaneous death - far more humane than leaving it for probably hours before someone came, catching it (wild animals are terrified of humans) and handling it further to inject it. Handling wild animals is very much a last resort, and should be avoided if at all possible because of the stress and terror it causes. No, running it over was the quickest and most humane thing to do.

>Seeing as the council now have to come out to clear away the mess

No, that's the job of crows and magpies. The council are very unlikely to do anything for weeks.

Well done ClaireyS, I would have just sat and cried I think.  You showed true compassion - myxamatosis is such an awful disease.

Stuff everyone else... you did the right thing.

I breed and show rabbits and had a conversation with my vet a while back about myxamatosis in wild rabbits. He runs them over if he comes across any on his travels as it is the quickest most human way to dispatch them.

What on earth where these people expecting this rabbit to do? If you didn't run it over i'm sure someone else would of, whether intentionally or not.

I hate running over rabbits, i too live in the countryside and its part of the game, i try to avoid them if possible, but sometimes they just get spooked, whether they have mixy or not.

I still can't believe that there are people out there who put this into the wild rabbit population as a way of culling them..

I know the council where i live would do it. Peoples opinions vary but I wouldnt have done it nor would i want to see that.

Hi Claire,

I'll be honest and admit I really don't think I could do it but agree in the circumstances it's what I should do :(  You saved the little mite from suffering a horrible end if it wasn't quickly dispatched by a vehicle, intentionally or otherwise.

Trying to explain things like this can be a waste of time if the people concerned have no knowledge of the plight of ailing wild life - mud or not, you did what was best for it.

Teri

>Peoples opinions vary but I wouldnt have done it nor would i want to see that.

Even when it's the correct thing to do (swerving to avoid an animal in the road is actually an offence), as well as the most humane?

Well done Claire.  You did the quickest and most humane thing that you could have done. :)  It's a shame that more people (edited to add - thanks JG!) DON'T put the feelings of animals before their own. :)

;-)

Well done you did the right thing and something I have done before as could not see an animal suffer like that.

Freds Mum I know you do care about animals but your good intentions would mean the animal would suffer even more by waiting for the council to come out as they may have taken days to do it as it would not be classed as an emergency. They would have called the RSPCA in any case and it would have taken them a long time to come out if at all.

>I'll be honest and admit I really don't think I could do it but agree in the circumstances it's what I should do

its not nice, its easier in the car than when the dogs bring them back to me when out walking, I cant leave them to suffer and the only way to put them out of their misery is to break their necks, its awaful :(  why did I end up with soft mouthed gundogs ? as a kid I had Afghans and they could dispatch myxi bunnies with one bite.

> as well as the most humane?

Thats a matter of opinion

The difference is it's an informed opinion - not one based entirely on misguided emotion, however well intentioned and, admittedly, understandable 

the rabbits skull is very thin and i used to despatch rabbits and guinea pigs at the zoo by breaking their skulls its not a nice job but its instant..however a wild rabbit shouldnt be handled so i totally agree to run it over...it would have drawn more looks of disaproval if i had got out of my car and hit it over the head with the baseball bat i keep in the boot...

> as well as the most humane?

Thats a matter of opinion

So what other options do you think are humane, to leave it to suffer showing signs of stress, pain and confusion whilst you wait hours for somebody to come out and PTS ?

I couldn't do it but I well remember when I was about 7 or 8 we were walking in the woods and saw a rabbit with myxi, we left it but my uncle went back later and killed it - he didn't want us kids to see it, but he wasn't going to leave it to suffer either. It is a truly horrible disease but I'm not sure I could run anything over deliberately, I'm bad enough doing it accidently :-D

Well done for having the courage to do it - it was the right thing to do
M x

> I know the council where i live would do it

Our council will clean up 'raod kill' that is on footpaths, but they don't offer a 'dispatching' service for ill/injured/infectious wildlife.

ClaireyS, well done to you, that was definately the kindest thing to do for the poor rabbit. Giving an animal a quick death is far better than leaving it to suffer, the poor rabbit wouldn't have even known what happened, all of a sudden he would have been dead and free of pain & suffering.

I only wish I was so brave, I end up crying my heart out and either footing the vets bill myself (OH not impressed!) or leave it and then spend days guilt ridden.  Not cut out for this country living (people laugh at me when I take the chickens to the vet!).  I think you did the kindest thing.

Rabbits are the bane of my life at the moment, they are multiplying before my very eyes in the fields where I walk the dogs.  Aaaaagggghhh, if I see 'em first I can get the girls to leave them if not then I'm dragged, I swear my arms are getting longer. 

Anyway, our council sends in the ferrets to try and cull them, it must have some effect 'cos there numbers do appear to reduce. 

> (people laugh at me when I take the chickens to the vet!). 

Well, I wouldn't laugh at you!

However, you do make me feel a little more "normal"

I once sat in the waiting room with lots of folk with their budgies, cats etc and wondered why everyone was staring at me.

The duck sat on my lap was Daffy, and up until then, I thought all kids had a pet chicken or duck!

The problem is always people humanising everything... the poor thing was suffering and you did absolutely the right thing... I'm so proud that I'm going to be bringing my children up with a sensible attitude to life and death which is sadly lacking nowadays.  The world is going mad.  I was putting myxy rabbits out of their misery at age 12 by myself or with a dog and proud of it.

I would do the same.

Oh Jean, I'm so glad it's not just me. I once ran all the way to my local vets with a vole after my cats had caught it.  The poor thing died in my hands on the way, so the vet opened the door (out of hours!!) to a blubbering idiot!!

I'm not proud of being so soft!  I really respect people that are brave enough and have the common sense to put a creature out of it's misery.

I have no problem with animals being killed, my sister & other family memebers are farmers - but running an animal over is a different ball game. One i dont agree to do.
The point of forums is to express an opinion - i am merely expressing mine.

> I have no problem with animals being killed, my sister & other family memebers are farmers - but running an animal over is a different ball game.

Im sorry, I dont understand the difference between killing something and running it over, its not like I swerved across the road at speed to purposely hit a perfectly healthy innocent animal.  Would it have been better if I had stopped the car, picked the bunny up and broken its neck ?

Obviously if it was a cat or other animal that had been injured I would have picked it up, but it was a rabbit with an irreversible condition - death was the only way out.

Me too - and I think a painless, instantaneous release from terror and incurable suffering is a blessing for any animal. The method is irrelevant as long as the animal doesn't suffer - and being run over is quicker than a lethal injection.

> Obviously if it was a cat or other animal that had been injured I would have picked it up,

A dog or cat shouldnt be different to any other animal.
And my mind wont be changed, i dont think being crushed under the car wheels is the right way for any animal to meet its end.

> A dog or cat shouldnt be different to any other animal

Dogs and cats are domesticated - this was a wild animal (which would have been terror struck by being handled by a human!) with an incurable disease :(  Don't get me wrong, I've stated it's not something I could intentionally do either, but also that in this instance it was the best thing IMO for the little bunny.

> And my mind wont be changed

I don't think anyone is trying to change your mind, not me at any rate, simply open your mind to this particular animal's best option in these particular circumstances.

Thank God I've never hit or run over any animal but I was devastated when a large wood pidgeon flew into my bonnet when pulling away from a standstill.  It flew away in a flurry of loose feathers - I prayed it wasn't hurt badly but the chances are it was.

Not a nice feeling and certainly not a nice thought to have hit anything with a car so I understand your feelings too.

No it would have been much fairer to run around after it, catch it, shove it in a box, cart it to the vets to have it poked and prodded... only for the poor, completely terrified creature to be held down and have needle stuck in it.  Same end result... which caused more suffering?

>A dog or cat shouldnt be different to any other animal.

a dog or cat is domesticated and should trust people and therefore not be afraid if picked up.  If you pick up a wild animal it would be petrified and would have prolonged its suffering. 

Sorry but this, 'stroke the poor wild animal, it'll feel much better' attitude really winds me up, I'd have done exactly the same as you Claire and told all the people who have a go at you where to shove their selfish attitude.

it would have drawn more looks of disaproval if i had got out of my car and hit it over the head with the baseball bat i keep in the boot...

I can remember once driving my brother home from the airport and we passed a couple of myxi rabbits, now he is very used to dispatching rabbits, going on shoots etc, he made me go around this roundabout 3 times as he saw them on the grass verge and wanted me to stop so that he could use my sons baseball bat to dispatch them, what do you think I did.....................I drove on, no way was I going to watch my brother wallop the rabbits. I can't help being soft, (in certain areas) I know it is the wrong thing with regards to Myxi but it's not something I can do.

You did the right thing ClaireyS, can't say I would do it, but don't blame you for putting them out of their suffering - it is kinder and glad you had the gumption to do it.

You are dead right an animal in pain does deserve to be pts, pity someone was watching. We get quite a few around and we try and keep the dogs off them in case of disease.
Next time try a disguise pretend your an HGv or something............:-P

I used to work at Marwell and we used to say the worse people we had to deal with was animal lovers. All joking aside and animal in pain with no hope needs to be pts quickly. There is no way you would get the environmental officer out and you are left with breaking its neck yourself or doing what you can, you did what you thought was right and I would have done the same.

So I ask the question again you think letting an animal suffer in pain and distress is better than a quick instant end to it's suffering ?

I think you were very brave to do what you did, i wouldnt like to have had to make that choice!

I completely understand people who feel they couldn't be the ones to end an animal's suffering quickly, it's the ones who condemn those who do that rile me... how on earth can ending an animal's suffering quickly be wrong?

I just showed this thread to my husband (laughing at me for getting wound up) and he said he would have got out and wrung it's neck... maybe less 'gruesome' than being 'crushed' to death, but would he really have got less horrified looks from onlookers?

I'd have felt far more guilty leaving it than ending it's suffering.

Rabbits are domesticated. Many have them as pets, some as 'house rabbits' living in the home
What if that rabbit belonged to someone? The chances are it probably didnt but when a rabbit has mixi' it becomes ill beyond recognition. Not very nice for the owners. 

Actually Molezak i would be happier to see someone ring an animals neck and leave it carefully in the bushes or something than it be run over and the mess left for all to see for days

Not very nice for the rabbit either. 

Well the rabbit's suffering is the most important thing not what's pretty to your eyes afterwards.. Claire sorted the situation quickly and that's what matters.

Where does it mention owners being nearby?    Or even that it may have been a tame rabbit? 

If the owners were around would they be standing back watching it wobbling around on a road?  Of course not - unless they were downright cruel. 

Rabbits are domesticated Wild rabbits are not domesticated .

>Rabbits are domesticated.

Even many pet rabbits (easily distinguishable from a wild rabbit) get stressed out at being handled. It is cruel to handle wild rabbits.