LogFAQs > #884345751

I understand. Killing an animal quickly so that it doesn't suffer is the right thing to do, but it doesn't feel like it.

I once hit a cat with my car in the middle of the night. It was a black cat, so I didn't see it. I pulled over to see if it was okay. Before I could do anything, three more cars came through and each one of them hit it, the last launching it into the air (I'm still not sure how that was possible). When I got to it, it wasn't moving much beyond breathing. It was clearly in terrible pain, but would probably have lived for hours still. The best I could find was a partly rotted log in the woods next to the road. I slammed it down on the poor thing's head, hoping to end its pain. It was still barely breathing, so I brought the log down again, harder. It shattered on impact. The cat was no longer breathing. I pushed its body with the log off the side of the road and sat for a bit to make sure it was dead and no longer suffering, then I went home and took a very long shower. I still think about that night whenever I see a dead animal on the side of the road. I believe I did the right thing. I believe I did the best thing I could have done. It was still painful to watch that creature suffer, and to have to kill it.