Chani caught a young squirrel the other day. It was wounded severely but not quite dead. I had to kill it myself. This was probably one of the worst things I’ve had to do. It really was a mercy killing, but that doesn’t make it feel any better. I’ve never had to do anything like that before and it made me think about a lot of things. It made me think about people that can go out and hunt for sport regularly. I suppose using a gun makes killing something much less personal than standing right over a creature and watching it die, but still, it took a lot courage for me to be able to that and frankly, I’m glad I’m disturbed by it. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t some hippy “Don’t kill animals” statement. Human beings are omnivores, we’re wired that way, take a look at our teeth - we’re built for an all-inclusive diet. I just think we those that hunt would appreciate what they take much more if the kill was much more personal.
I also thought about Liam. I wondered what I would have told him about my actions were he a bit older and would have grasped what was going on. I thought about this a lot, but I really don’t have an answer. How do you tell a young child that taking a creatures life is sometimes more humane than allowing it to live? Since we’re dog owners this is something we may eventually have to deal with, I should really come up with some way to handle that.
