(I know how to spell "Karma" so don't sic Lex on me...)

Last night about 12:30 or so..

My dogs Black Betty and Chatka were going ballistic in the yard...I assume it was coyotes or a rattle snake or something.....I ignored it...Then I heard some sounds I hadnt heard before..got up threw on some shoe and a pair of underwear and looked outside...normally they are at the fence barking outward. They were both concentrating on something in the center of the yard. So I walk out in the darkness and see a good sized dead animal between them...."Oh crap! They killed an opposum" apparently it had recently gotten sprayed by a skunk...I muttered to the dogs.."Go inside you retards"...and stepped around back for a shovel to scoop it up and take it back to the mesquite and cactus thicket it came from...

While around back, the thought occurred to me "I wonder if it is "Playing possum"?

Sure enough...I come back around the house it is up and p*ssed off.

Betty and Chatka backed away... and the opposum tried to charge me ..(even animals know "The best defence is a good offence" Apparently Black Betty (black lab/pit bull) bit it through the lower spine and it was dragging it's self towards me showing teeth, hissing and growling with the back legs inoperable...



It stopped at the shovel in front of it and growled at me to go away...my thought..."I can't just set you outside with your back broken to starve...I looked at Betty and she KNEW!!!!

I didn't even raise my voice "Betty, you stupid b*tch! They eat bugs! It ain't competing for food, territory or mating rites"..I turned back to the opposum and apologized as it just waited and looked at me. "Sorry lil mama...lets hope the Hindus are right and you get reborn"

Not gonna go into detail...but, I put the poor thing down and buried it.....the dogs FREAKED seeing me kill something (it was quick and brutal)...they are terrified of that shovel. (when I walked it past this morning they both peed themselves while bellying up to me...

One of those images that burns into the mind....

I feel no regret at any of the Jesus or God jokes I have made...

but, I felt/feel so bad for doing what I had to do.....

Bad Kharma.........

You did the right thing, Krupa. It only had misery ahead of it if you had not done what needed to be done.

It always sucks to put an animal down for 'no real reason'
But the animal was suffering, and not by your hand, but by nature's own.
Maybe you get points for putting aside feelings and putting it out of it's misery.

I would have done the same...and felt the same. It sucks but you did the right thing.

It always sucks to have to do something like that, and I cringe in sympathy for you, Krupa.

A few years back, was driving home from work and came across a doe who had been hit by a car...she was alive, but both hind legs were broken, and she was trying to pull herself across the road into the woods beyond. I am a total mush when it comes to animals, so pulled over and called animal control, then sat with the doe by the side of the road until they arrived. She trembled the whole time, but couldn't move away. When the officer arrived, he had to shoot her. I felt like a fool for being upset about it, as I know it had to be done, but it didn't stop me from feeling bad.

incredible story...there are some that wouldn't have been able to kill that animal, let alone disable it..killer instinct is killer instinct..regardless of circumstances..this one just happens to be more virtuous than others...one way to mitigate feeling bad is to do it again

roko

Blahhhhhh



I know that opposums are nasty and ugly little critters with pouches that feed on disgusting **** (but, so do alot of Wal-Mart shoppers with the fanny packs)

I never messed with them cause I always thought it was cool that North America had the only other marsupial species out side of the Australian continent (that I am aware of) Besides...they really do only eat the bugs that I don't wanna deal with... and they are far less of a pain in the @ss than the Coons, Coyotes, Bobcats

I used to find them or their cubs as a kid.

Let's face it...they ain't pretty, they stink and they are ALWAYS infested with fleas....but, Oh man....I just really dislike taking a life of an innocent....

I know it was the right thing to do...I was really hoping it would just get up and lope off...but, the spine was reeeealllly broken.

I guess it would be easier if I knew it wasn't looking at me...scared to death..mortally wounded and hoping I would just go away and it could survive....

Damn

Shovels are good!!!!

Bummer..
we've had to put a few down the same way for the same reason.
Just wait till they nail a baby skunk...now thats nasty

"I guess it would be easier if I knew it wasn't looking at me...scared to death..mortally wounded and hoping I would just go away and it could survive...."

the big question is..if this situation presented itself in the future...would you do it again..??

roko

Keep in mind that they won't hesitate to attack YOU if they were given the chance, too.

In fact, I was almost bitten by one while I was doing some work on my dad's property one evening-

- I was helping tear down an engine that needed to be replaced when we noticed this huge possum mulling about. But since it wasn't being snarky or otherwise trying to attack us, we didn't pay it any mind...

... until it started growling and charged at us. Luckily, I had my pistol on me at the time (we used to get a lot of trespassers mulling about at night, so having protection was a must) and plugged it a couple of times before it took a bite out of my ankle.

It turned out that the possum was rabid too, which kind of added a whole other dimension to things.

i`d of gone back inside and let the dogs deal with it.... no guilt

I live in the city. We have a lot of opposums. I see them on my fence quite often. I see them at night with those eyes when I'm driving. I didn't know that they were infested with fleas. I also didn't know that they were bug eaters. My child likes to look at them when they are on the fence.

You did a difficult but admirable thing, Krupa.

Yeah,...I honestly ain't wealthy enough to take a wild animal to a spinal surgeon...(doubt anyone could have done anything anyway)..

So I guess it is a Catch-22..damned if you do..and you are a d*ck if ya don't.

I guess it is a "Soul" thing...looking at another soul and hating the fact that the only kind option was to kill it.

<< im really sleepin.. soo..

if it was a big one Moo..it was a female...rabid or not..probably had cubs in a hole under a rock or up in a tree nearby...(they only back pack them around in the evenings for feeding and to show them thier food sources) if it was night...rabid or not..she was probably just trying to clear the way to bring out her cubs to eat....mommas are b*tchy like that.

...for having a heart. At least you didn't let the poor thing suffer. Guess it doesn't matter what kind of creature it is, it still sucks. I had a similar situation except it was just a baby mole that my cat had caught. It was still alive, looking up at me, legs broken, gasping it's last breathes. I snapped it's little neck with a broom handle and couldn't believe how bad I felt!! For a friggen mole!

Now you brought babies into it.

I've held opposum babies before at the animal shelter. They're so cute.

I understand...I don't remember being upset at any funeral I have attended...but, planting any of my dogs/pets/oppossum in the Krupa Bone Orchard...just really gets to me...I don't understand it but, lifes a b*tch..then ya die.

I thought opossums were born on the road already dead?

Thats the only way I see them.