Moral decisions

[darkendless]

Ok i just had a terrible experience,

Driving home i saw something moving on the road, when i got closer i realised it was a severely injured dog in its death throws (it was night time, hard to tell). I love animals and it was so gut wrenching see this.
My question is, what should i have done
a) what i did and avoid the tortured thing and let it die painfully,
b) run it over and finish it off inflicting minor damage on my car?

I feel terrible letting it suffer since i knew it was alive to feel the pain. Seeing it twist and turn in pain is really really upsetting and i don't know if i did the right thing or not by letting it suffer.

 

[LuisDantas]

Are you sure that it had no chance to recover? And that it had no loved ones who could find it in time?

If you have reasonable doubt about either, then it was probably best to let be.

Even if you took the wrong decision, there is only so far to go on taking responsibility. You don't know how long it would live (perhaps only a few seconds anyway). Would it be reasonably safe to stop and check? Are you sure that the damage to your car would not affect its safety?

All too often we simply don't have enough data to make the best choice. It can't always be helped, so accept it.

 

[MoonWater]

I'm not trying to sound rude or crass or anything(I've had these same experiences with bugs that I'll sometimes find on the ground injured or half squished), but why not pull over and try to get the animal to a vet, or maybe dial 411 to get the number of the local emergency vet to see what they would suggest you do, they might have been able to tell you things you didn't know that could have helped you save the dog, or at least, if it survived the trip it would be in aplace with trained professionals that would know better whether or not the animal had a chance and could put it to sleep painlessly. And even if the dog didn't survive there would still be a greater chance of finding the owner so they would know what happened.

 

[darkendless]

I'm not trying to sound rude or crass or anything(I've had these same experiences with bugs that I'll sometimes find on the ground injured or half squished), but why not pull over and try to get the animal to a vet, or maybe dial 411 to get the number of the local emergency vet to see what they would suggest you do, they might have been able to tell you things you didn't know that could have helped you save the dog, or at least, if it survived the trip it would be in aplace with trained professionals that would know better whether or not the animal had a chance and could put it to sleep painlessly. And even if the dog didn't survive there would still be a greater chance of finding the owner so they would know what happened.

Yeh thats true. I don't know, it didnt really hit me until i got home. This was 11:30pm as well on a saturday, no vets are open. I don't think i could stand having an injured animal suffering at my home until it either died or i got it to a vet. I really cannot handle seeing hurt animals.

 

[MoonWater]

Yeh thats true. I don't know, it didnt really hit me until i got home. This was 11:30pm as well on a saturday, no vets are open. I don't think i could stand having an injured animal suffering at my home until it either died or i got it to a vet. I really cannot handle seeing hurt animals.

That's why I mentioned an emergency vet clinic. I don't know if you have them out where you are but we have one here where I live that's always open. It might be a good idea to figure out if there is one in your area and keep the number on you in case something like this happens again.