The Killing Guilt

[Rob_D]

I managed to tread on one of the frogs that live in my garden a few months ago - it was dark and raining heavily. I trod on his legs - he somehow crawled away still alive, but I presume he'd not recover from that

I'm now more careful as they like to sit on the path in those conditions, but I still feel bad about it.

[loripo]

Thought for a Sunshiny Morning (or even a Grizzly afternoon)

It costs me never a stab nor squirm
To tread by chance upon a worm.
"Aha, my little dear," I say,
"Your clan will pay me back one day." Dorothy Parker

[rangersarah2]

I hate the crunch from the snails.

I found a dried bat in the spare room which must've flown in and not been able to get out again. Also found a dry frog that the cats had brought in. Assume it was alive when they brought it in, but it was in a warm room.... and I hate housework....

My worst though is realising that there are millions of baby toads around me, and that I must have trodden on a few to get there. I once refused to move until someone had cleared the way.

Is there any way to cheer this conversation up?

[Meta menardi]

Originally Posted by rangersarah2

I hate the crunch from the snails.

I found a dried bat in the spare room which must've flown in and not been able to get out again. Also found a dry frog that the cats had brought in. Assume it was alive when they brought it in, but it was in a warm room.... and I hate housework....

My worst though is realising that there are millions of baby toads around me, and that I must have trodden on a few to get there. I once refused to move until someone had cleared the way.

Is there any way to cheer this conversation up?

Get some of the plastic bubble wrap and pop it. Sounds like fly pupae being crushed.

Best I can do.

[rangersarah2]

Originally Posted by Meta menardi

Get some of the plastic bubble wrap and pop it. Sounds like fly pupae being crushed.

Best I can do.

HEY! It worked.

[loripo]

Originally Posted by Meta menardi

Sounds like fly pupae being crushed.

How do you know that

[BloomingMarvellous]

Mmmmmmmmm, had a long hard think before replying to this thread. I had a day this year that I think effected me for life... and It started off with this Little Fella falling into the Pond and me being around at the right time and the right place to pull him out and take a few photo's of him.



This Little Fella amused me throughout the Day until a Damselfly came along that I recognized from about a month ago, I had pulled it out of the Pond only to notice that it had a broken wing...



I was so excited that I forgot about the Weevil for a minute, the Damselfly flew off and I returned to the Weevil that had been entertaining me throughout the day, the Weevil was being very patient with me and letting me take It's photo at different angle's... and then It hit me, the Weevil was dead and I had killed It, I had knelt on it whilst taking a photo of the Damselfly with the broken Wing...



and then it hit me, I had just taken a load of photos of a Weevil that had just had It's entire insides squashed out of It.


Yes, this certainly effected me...

[Gill Catton]

Oh what a thread! Yes I suffer from this, I used to be really bad and I too wonder if it resulted from watching older kids torture a crane fly while I felt every bit of the pain I though it must be feeling utterly unable to rescue it.... Recently I've tried to stop this as there have been a few times where I've needed to put something out of it's misery (even only by driving over it) and have failed or really struggled to do it - which only then results in more suffering for the animal. I also HAD to do something to protect my veggies from slugs and snails so have hardened myself to that, but I throw them into my small pond for the rat-tailed maggots and chronomids so at least I can feel I've done some good!

[Jason Green]

OK... confession time. Today I walked head-first into a spiders web. Having realised I was destroying his/her web I stepped back. Onto what? Yes, you've guessed it - a snail. In the space of a few seconds I've now taken out a web... and a poor snail. Oops...

[Susie]

Originally Posted by BloomingMarvellous

Mmmmmmmmm, had a long hard think before replying to this thread. I had a day this year that I think effected me for life... and It started off with this Little Fella falling into the Pond and me being around at the right time and the right place to pull him out and take a few photo's of him.



This Little Fella amused me throughout the Day until a Damselfly came along that I recognized from about a month ago, I had pulled it out of the Pond only to notice that it had a broken wing...



I was so excited that I forgot about the Weevil for a minute, the Damselfly flew off and I returned to the Weevil that had been entertaining me throughout the day, the Weevil was being very patient with me and letting me take It's photo at different angle's... and then It hit me, the Weevil was dead and I had killed It, I had knelt on it whilst taking a photo of the Damselfly with the broken Wing...



and then it hit me, I had just taken a load of photos of a Weevil that had just had It's entire insides squashed out of It.


Yes, this certainly effected me...

I kill weevils all the time and don't think anything of it. It's amazing how weevil grubs can destroy all the roots on a plant in next to no time.

[Gaina]

Originally Posted by rangersarah2

Is there any way to cheer this conversation up?

I made a very cool discovery a while ago that helps me save the life of flies (not a popular thing in this house but what the heck, it's my karma!):

If you find a fly teetering around on the floor, looking like it's on it's last legs put a drop of water right in front of it's face and watch it suck the water up - it's quite amazing to see the little critters snap back into life!

A very nerdy thing to do and of no value to the bigger picture whatsoever, but it gives me great satisfaction.

[Jason Green]

Well done, Gaina.

[ChrisJB]

What an intriguing thread, but (gulp) here goes. I hate doing it, but if I am in the house alone, big house spiders must be dispatched (with something long, like the mop because I'm too scared to go near them - the walls of our house are full of dirty mop marks). With my car I have taken out a grey squirrel and (worst of all) a stoat in recent years.
There is also a childhood incident with a nestful of house martin chicks that is just too much to elaborate on and haunts me to this day.

Regards, Chris

[wizzo]

I was painting some iron railings for a customer recently. It seemd like every few inches or so, I managed to inadvertantly coat a tiny little spider in a think gloopy blob of oil based Hammerite paint. These 'cute' little spiders were just going about their business, hiding in the little looped areas of the railing. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't clear them out. It was a terrible sight, watching the poor little things struggling to free themselves. Then to make things worse, a small swarm of Ladybirds decided to use the areas I'd painted, as a runway. It was pure carnage! I often travel to Dorset and I refuse to travel after dusk for fear of hitting a Badger. It's nothing to see a half dozen dead Badgers on a round trip - very sad!

[clackdish]

dont know wether this will cheer you up, but a man was watching tv when there was a knock on the door, it was a good programme so he ignored it, but the caller persisted and eventually the man got up and answered the door in a not to pleasant mood, flinging the door wide open to berate the caller he couldnt see any one, he was just about to go back inside when a small voice called out "excuse me" looking down the man saw a snail on the step, "excuse me " said the snail again, when the man reached down in a fit of pique and picked up the snail he threw it as far as he could over the fence before flouncing back inside to finish watching the tv, the following week the man was watching the second episode of the programme when again there was a knock at the door, not believing anyone could do this to him again he ran to the door and threw it wide open, again no one was there he was about to go back inside when he heard a small voice say "oy" looking down he saw the snail again on his step, the snail looked up at him and said "what did you do that for !!!!!!!!!! "

well it made me smile

[loripo]

I like that - especially 'the following week' bit! My daughter used to do that with all her snails, lob them into next doors garden, but they all seemed to come back again, they liked her veg better than the weeds next door.

[Dutchess]

Gill's post reminded me of a scenario I saw once in the playground of my local park, I was just a wee toddler at the time, but it haunts me to this day. A group of older boys were cutting the wings off ladybirds with a razor blade Why do (some) kids do this sort of thing???

I don't drive an awful lot myself, so I suppose by law of averages I have escaped the killing guilt when it comes to road accidents, but I was upset earlier on this year when I knocked down my first wild animal (to my knowledge, of course.) It was a grey squirrel but it made one heck of a crunch for such a small animal

I think I have mentioned this before, but when in Florida in the rainy season, one stormy night on returning to our residence, there were lots of tiny frogs jumping aroound on the road ahead. Yep! I got out and walked ahead of the car, in the pouring rain, shoo-ing them all away! Risking life and limb (i.e. alligators!! lol! ) The locals thought I was crazy....maybe I am.

D.

[rangersarah2]

Talking about rescuing things (surely a better subject):
I spend a couple of hours a week rescuing toads, frogs and newts out to the roadside drains. Bit smelly, but better than letting them drown. I also drop pieces of wood down so that they have something to sit while they await rescue.

Give it a try, it's very satisfying. You'll make new friends too - people always stop to ask why you've got your head stuck down the drains. But don't get run over.

[clackdish]

Originally Posted by rangersarah2

Talking about rescuing things (surely a better subject):
I spend a couple of hours a week rescuing toads, frogs and newts out to the roadside drains. Bit smelly, but better than letting them drown. I also drop pieces of wood down so that they have something to sit while they await rescue.

Give it a try, it's very satisfying. You'll make new friends too - people always stop to ask why you've got your head stuck down the drains. But don't get run over.

well done ranger, but the handy tip at the end had me in fits of laughter

[wizzo]

Well just as this thread was taking a positive turn, I'm afraid I have to take this opportunity to get something off of my chest and send it spiralling downwards again. Apologies for that in advance! Some years ago, I jumped in my truck, to go to the shops, to pick up a few things. I was gone for roughly thirty minutes. On my return, a small group of local kids had gathered at the bottom of my driveway. I jumped out of my 'two ton gas guzzler' to be greeted by cries of.... "you're cruel! look what you've done!". Unfortunatley, I'd reversed over a large toad on the driveway on my way to the shops. It's back legs were crushed and stuck to the driveway while his front legs were frantically trying to get away. Obviously I dispatched the poor creature after asking the kids to turn their heads. Kids being kids however, most were still looking as I swiftly brought down my size ten boot. It took me ages to get over that one! I obsessively check the driveway everytime I go out now and the kids have all gone on to lead normal (ish) lives after councelling. Sorry about lowering the tone again, but I needed to share

[Amoeba]

Well, one positive thing is that the kids felt sorry for the toad.

There are some parts of the country where the kids would probably have continued to maliciously torture the poor creature.

[Andestine]

I was cycling along in the country when I saw a large earthworm struggling on the left hand side of the lane. It wasn’t very far in, but I thought someone might tread on it, so I got off to go to the rescue.
There was nowhere to lean my bike against, so I went to the other side of the road to park it against a wall.

At that moment, out of the blue, a car came round the corner and swerved to avoid me……and……..you guessed it.

It was one of those ‘well **** it anyway’ moments (my asterixes )

Thank you, Seagull, for finally giving me the chance to confess.

[rangersarah2]

Murderers! But - yes - I'm guilty too

[Andestine]

...but......but.......I thought we could come here to get absolution!

[Andestine]

P.S.

Hoping Seagull won't mind a slight deviation off topic, but we have to find ways to put right what we've done wrong, and on reading what Sarah does to save frogs, toads and newts, I have to put my hand up to saving all drowning things.

Especially bees (and I am so obsessed with the process that I have photos to prove it ). However, just in case someone hasn't seen this before, I was charmed to discover a way of helping bees dislodge their load of mites (and you can even save the mites too )

I haven't found one loaded down enough to try this on, so if anyone has, please let me know if it works


How to Repair a Bumble Bee - UK Safari