Geez, yes Boulder is a stoopid place. This letter to the editor in the Boulder Daily Camera titled “Why do we let them die like this?” seems to want top rate medical services for roadkill. The author, Miriam Paisner, had this to say about how a rabbit’s life that ended after being hit by a car and injured on Jay Road in Bouder County…
I looked over and saw a rabbit trying to cross Jay, but as he turned back he was struck by a speeding car whose driver never looked back. I pulled over and watched this poor little creature pull himself to the side of the road by his front legs.
She then called the Sheriff’s office trying to get the number for the Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, but 10 minutes of being on hold yielded no information except they were open until 7pm, resulting in the following action…
I needed help; the rabbit was desperately in need of help, so while the officer called Greenwood (at last), I put him on my dog’s blanket in the back of my car. I was told that Greenwood was open until 7 p.m., so I raced the back roads to Colo. 66 east of Lyons. The rabbit died in my car on the way to help. It broke my heart.
This leads to a number of heart wrenching questions:
Why wasn’t there a closer place to take this poor creature?
Why didn’t the driver stop to see what he or she had done?
Why is the life of a poor, wild creature so meaningless that there was no way to save him?
What has happened to our humanity in Boulder?
First of all, I do my best to avoid animals while I drive down the road. Quite recently, after swerving to try and avoid a rabbit on Nelson road it ended up as roadkill, probably in a similar fashion as described by the author. However, my answer to her questions are as follows:
1. Where would she like to take him? The rabbit was hit by a car weight many hundreds of pounds, unless simply a foot was broken the internal injuries are bound to be devasting.
2. What is she expecting the driver to do? The rabbit is a goner.
3. Is the rabbit’s life meaningless? I’m not sure how to answer that, but there is no shortage or rabbits and how far down the food chain do we want to supply animal ambulances and surgical teams who are on call for every injury?
4. I have a hard time relating Boulder’s “humanity” to an accident where a basically wild rabbit (kamikazee bunny we call them in my neighborhood) panicked and ran in front of a car?
I wonder, who would pay for all the medical care that Ms. Paisner believes this rabbit deserves?
Similarly, I’d sure hate to be driving on a 2 lane highway where Ms. Paisner and I were approaching each other and a rabbit or some other non-domesticated animal ran out onto the road. Reading her letter, I get the distinct feeling she would easily entertain the thought of an accident involving another car and potential injury to human life to avoid injuring the animal. I call that scary.
