A rabbit recently died. Who cares, right?
I saw on the street a small living form. I stopped the car and went over to the form and saw that it was a rabbit that must have been hit by a car. It was still very much alive. I called my husband to bring a container for it. I also called an animal clinic in the area that I knew had 24-hour emergency service. They told me to call the police and said the police would bring the animal in.
When the police came, they hesitated, so my husband and I placed the animal in the container and took it to the animal clinic. When we got to the clinic, the person said they would put it to sleep. I was shocked by this response and told them I was under the impression they would give the rabbit emergency care. The person said injured animals brought there by police are put to sleep. She added: “A 5-pound animal hit by a 1-ton car doesn’t stand a chance anyway.”
As I stood there with the injured rabbit in its container, looking very disturbed, the person offered to give me some wildlife agency phone numbers. I accepted.
While driving toward our home, I called the numbers on the list. On one of the numbers, a person answered and said that nothing could be done at night, but to just keep the animal warm, and, “if it’s still alive in the morning, bring it in.”
The next morning I found the rabbit had died.
We humans are so involved in our own personal pursuits of interest and monetary gratification that we find no satisfaction in helping an animal in distress, especially a wild animal.
