Board 8 > Just hit a squirrel for the first time...

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm probably more upset about this than I should be.

All I can think about is that if I had left the house 5 seconds earlier or later it wouldn't have happened.

But I guess this happens all the time, ugh.

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A few days ago, I plopped down in bed after a walk, not realizing I squished a butterfly that had clung to the back of my shirt. Somehow, the tough bastard survived it, but I felt pretty bad initially when I thought it was a goner.

bleeding hearts 4life bruh

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The squirrels back at my parent's place are assholes so this does not pull on my heartstrings.

It sucks, but unfortunately thats the nature of driving vehicles. It happens. Most people dont even think about all the poor bugs their cars kill while they drive since you cant really avoid them

swordz9 posted...

It sucks, but unfortunately thats the nature of driving vehicles. It happens. Most people dont even think about all the poor bugs their cars kill while they drive since you cant really avoid them

bugs are the absolute worst though. I'm doing the world a favor

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if you were going to hit that squirrel with a brick it wouldn't have mattered if you left 5 minutes early or 5 minutes late

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DeepsPraw posted...

bugs are the absolute worst though. I'm doing the world a favor

Theyre still living beings though. As gross and annoying as they can be they still have as much right to live as anything else does imo

swordz9 posted...

Theyre still living beings though. As gross and annoying as they can be they still have as much right to live as anything else does imo

Humans are the only organisms with the right to life. Suffering is inherently bad, death is not. Non-human deaths are only bad if they cause suffering (killing a social animal with friends etc)

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPCZtrac-Ss

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Snake5555555555 posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPCZtrac-Ss

i bet he thinks his highest stat is perception and his lowest is luck

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swordz9 posted...

Theyre still living beings though. As gross and annoying as they can be they still have as much right to live as anything else does imo

I mean, trees and fruits and plants are living beings too. Do you get upset when you slice up or bite into an apple?
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NeatoAnAccount posted...

Humans are the only organisms with the right to life. Suffering is inherently bad, death is not. Non-human deaths are only bad if they cause suffering (killing a social animal with friends etc)

So if you're alone in a forest with a butterfly, and you slap your hands together and kill it just because you feel like it, that's okay?

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Sorry to hear that. It was an accident. :(

Also your username combined with the opening post reminded me of Umineko again.

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I mean the first time it happened to me I certainly felt a little sad, in an, "Oh no, sorry buddy!" kind of way.

But if you look at it from a point of view of if you had left the house five seconds earlier it wouldn't have happened, maybe the squirrel should have been five seconds earlier.

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If it was preventable I would definitely feel bad. You can definitely drive slower for instance to give the animal time.

But sometimes they're idiots. I saw a squirrel be on the safe side of the road and then jump right in front of the car ahead of me.

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UshiromiyaEva posted...

All I can think about is that if I had left the house 5 seconds earlier or later it wouldn't have happened.

Not really. There could've been another squirrel at another point in your path that you did miss by 5 seconds, and leaving 5 seconds early would've killed that one. It's random chance either way.

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Raka_Putra posted...

Also your username combined with the opening post reminded me of Umineko again.

I was actually thinking of ZTD when I made that comment, lol. "Life is simply unfair"

pjbasis posted...

But sometimes they're idiots. I saw a squirrel be on the safe side of the road and then jump right in front of the car ahead of me.

Yeah it absolutely juked back and forth directly in front of the car like 4 times.

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It's called Darwinism. A squirrel that's dumb enough to stop while crossing a street, one that's going to cross it at all after dark, or one that's not going to hear the giant predator risks perishing from being hit. Like the one time a bird went full kamikaze on my windshield, I felt bad but remembered that "birdbrain" is a word for a reason. Poor thing. Nothing I could've done.

There are other times when it's an unfortunate accident, however. This seems more like it was Darwinism though.
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This probably won't make you feel any better but depending on where you live or what kind of squirrel you hit was, it could have been an invasive species.

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MysteriousStan posted...

The squirrels back at my parent's place are assholes so this does not pull on my heartstrings.

I used to love squirrels when I lived in Europe, then I moved to America. American squirrels are the worst.

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I always feel bad about roadkill, I'm sorry that happened. I AM glad, though, to hear you also did not swerve like a madman and cause a bigger accident and getting yourself hurt, like some people do.

Sometimes it's us or them

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remember the smart squirrels are capable of amazing things

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFZFjoX2cGg

the dumb ones could never do that
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You live in Georgia, right?

Kind of impressive it took this long.
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Emeraldegg posted...

So if you're alone in a forest with a butterfly, and you slap your hands together and kill it just because you feel like it, that's okay?

As long as it doesn't have a chance to suffer why not? From the butterfly's perspective, that's just as arbitrary as swatting a bug that's crawling on your body because it's itchy

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What about beating a domestic animal to death just out of sadism? I don't see that as okay.

When I was driving from Savannah, GA across the Florida panhandle, I saw a dead armadillo or turtle literally every minute, and the whole time I was like damn how do you hit either of those? Theyre huge! and about 3/4s of the way through the trip I saw a turtle appear underneath the car in front of me just long enough to go oh fuck and hit it.

I kept turtles for years, and go out in my backyard in the morning to try to find some all the time, so Im not afraid to say I cried for a second.

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Only animal I've hit is a raccoon.

I was on the right side of a four lane highway with a semi to my left. Saw the raccoon thread the needle on the semi, emerging from underneath it after the front tires had passed and before the back tires could get him. I couldn't do anything, semi on the left and like maybe six inches of clearance on the right before a ditch (lol the South's roads are terrible) and ended up nailing him with my back right tire.

Felt really bad because he almost made it.

MegaWentEvil posted...

What about beating a domestic animal to death just out of sadism? I don't see that as okay.

that sure sounds like it causes suffering

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I've never hit an animal with my car yet, but I did accidentally kill a turtle with my lawnmower once. He was in very tall grass and I had no way of seeing.

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I'm kind of surprised you lasted this long without hitting one. I had one make it all the way to the other side of the road once and then ran back into the road right in front of my car. Sometimes it's hard to avoid it even if you're being careful.

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Accidents happen, and they suck. With wildlife, you're mostly assured that you haven't caused irreparable harm that will cause ripples for generations to come.

NeatoAnAccount posted...

(killing a social animal with friends etc)

Yeah... I kind of ran over a dog once with the owner's kids standing not three feet away (dog in the street, kids on the sidewalk). That one still haunts me. I'd run over a thousand squirrels to get that one off my conscience.

I ran over a chipmunk in front of the bus stop last week.

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Uglyface2 posted...

Yeah... I kind of ran over a dog once with the owner's kids standing not three feet away (dog in the street, kids on the sidewalk). That one still haunts me. I'd run over a thousand squirrels to get that one off my conscience.

Maybe I was the kid lol.
Had that happen to me when I was a kid, honestly it traumatized me pretty badly.

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Uglyface2 posted...

I'd run over a thousand squirrels to get that one off my conscience.

usually people fold paper cranes but different strokes

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foolm0r0n posted...

Not really. There could've been another squirrel at another point in your path that you did miss by 5 seconds, and leaving 5 seconds early would've killed that one. It's random chance either way.

Life is simply unfair, don't you think?

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Oh yeah that was the whole point of that game huh

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Blew through a possum as I was getting off the freeway like a year ago

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I was once on a road trip and I shit you not, I hit like 10+ squirrels. Only time I have ever hit animals. It got to the point that I was actively trying to avoid them but it just ended up causing me to hit them anyway.

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Waluigi1 posted...

Maybe I was the kid lol.

I certainly hope not. Were you from the Cleveland area? Does Shurmer mean anything to you? If so, then please accept my apologies and know that I've never forgiven myself. My allergies were acting up and we didn't have any tissues, paper towels, or napkins. I still wish I'd turned right to go to Giant Eagle instead of left to go to CVS.

Nah

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