stevebiker

In my area the rabbit population has exploded. They're everywhere.

The other day, I was riding along and a rabbit was by the side of the bike path. So I gave him a couple feet of room, figuring I'd whiz by like I always do. Rabbit got his signals crossed and ran straight into my front wheel. He got his leg caught in the spokes and lost it. Poor critter. Last I saw, he was pulling himself into the woods with his front legs, minus a back leg.

So if there are small animals where you ride, give them a wide berth. These creatures don't always think rationally, and if they make a mistake and run into your path it could be disaster for both of you.

RPK79

[Insert lucky rabbit's foot joke here]

Shimagnolo

Or Monty Python quote: "'Tis but a scratch!"

bikeguyinvenice

Is the little critters foot on your key chain now? I bet he isn't feeling too lucky.

misanthrope

A genuine humane response to this incident would have been to put the animal out of its misery. Laments of "poor critter" don't really cut it.

Looigi

Prey animals like rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks will often zig or zag when they are startled by something bearing down on them as fast approaching objects are usually attacking predators aiming for them. If you're not aiming for them, there's a significant chance they'll run into to you. A rabbit or squirrel through the spokes can easily take you down. If I see a seemingly oblivious animal ahead, I make noise trying to alert them to my approach as soon as possible so they have time to make a getaway.

walrus1

That most have been extremely upsetting to go through! Fortunately I don't encounter any rabbits in NYC at least outside of some of the larger parks.

How would you suggest I put it down? Beat it to death with a U-lock? I know that humanely euthanizing it would probably the kindest thing especially considering how important back legs are for rabbits. Truth be told a predator will probably get it pretty quickly.

raqball

I was thinking the same thing! I suppose you could have also bashed it's head in with a frame pump.. Ya that's humane!

You did the right thing under the circumstances.

Here we have squirrels everywhere on the bike path and they constantly want to try and jump trough spokes. I don't ride on the path much but when I do I always slow down because like previously stated, these punks will take you down!

Often times these little punks bolt out from nowhere and you won't even see them until it's to late. If I see them ahead, I slow but that's only about 2 times out of 10. The other 8 times they come out from nowhere.

stevebiker

I thought of that at the time, but the woods are pretty thick in that area and I probably wouldn't have found him even if I'd stopped immediately, and I didn't have anything except my bare hands to put it out of its misery. I would have had to strangle him to death.

In any event, I hope the poor critter did die soon afterward. Otherwise it may have died a slow death from infection, or worse.

misanthrope

The U-lock sounds a perfectly effective method. Dispatching a small and injured mammal such as this is hardly rocket science of course. One's bare hands would be suffice.

Rationalising the decision to accord greater importance to one's squeamishness than the welfare of the rabbit by saying "Truth be told a predator will probably get it pretty quickly" isn't taking proper responsibility for the situation, and is anyway just convenient self-deception. Significantly it also ignores the fact that for the rabbit, any amount of time spent under extreme stress and pain might not seem anything like "quick", and that even by your criterion of "quick" this assertion seems baseless and indeed erroneous in this particular situation (an "exploding" population points to low numbers of the relevant predator).

raqball

So you'd chase the injured animal down and bash it's head in with a u-lock? WOW!

Chase that injured animal down here and you'd run the risk of getting bitten by a rattlesnake. Huge portions of the bike path here are covered in deep vegetation on both sides. I quite often see rattlesnakes when I ride early in the morning..

I would not suggest running after an injured animal into thick brush / vegetation wielding a u-lock. I suppose you can also bash the rattlesnakes head in after it bites you..

misanthrope

I accept it might not have been difficult to find / catch the rabbit - but this isn't the impression I got from your first post.

In the event that you could have done however, you've just got to decide what's more important - how unpleasant it would be for you to dispatch the animal (even with your bare hands), or how unpleasant it would be for the animal for you to withhold this small mercy.

chasm54

When you see a small animal approaching your front wheel, accelerate. That gives you the best chance of maintaining your momentum while dismembering the animal, thus keeping you upright and hopefully giving it a quick death.

walrus1

Or it shows a basic understanding of how nature works. As for killing it with your bare hands..... lets just say that raises some interesting questions about a person willing to do that.

chasm54

Huh? You think the people who kill the animals you eat are somehow morally impaired? Or is it just the "bare hands" thing that disturbs you?

For the record, I've killed a rabbit, and several birds, with my bare hands when they were clearly mortally wounded. What question does that raise about me? Psycho? Or compassionate?

John Redcorn

CCW while riding, shoot them if they get anywhere near the path. Take no chances.

chaadster

Misanthrope livin' up to their screen name!

stevebiker

I agree.

lsberrios1 

Man what a thread! I do feel terrible for the poor thing but i don't think running after a rabbit with a u lock would have been the best choice of action. It doesnt seem like the most humane thing at all unless you would have taken it home and cooked it. Rabbit taste good.

I laughed hard at the image of a cyclist running around with a u lock with a killer face trying to be nice to the rabit.. Passerbys would have called the police.

lsberrios1 

Also i just had the mental image that if i were to be run by a car on my legs i'd hate for the guy in the car to get down with a bat and beat my head to death... Think about it.

misanthrope

Only 22 posts, but still totally bemused by the frequency with which people comment on my screen-name.

I guess I must have forgotten when registering here that internet screen names are invariably earnest and literal descriptions of the person behind them, and not arbitrary and mostly affected placeholders. Silly me

P.S. also not quite sure how advocating compassion for animals entails misanthropy. One of us must be conceptually confused methinks.

RPK79

It's kind of stringy and tastes like chicken.

The image in my head was of a cyclist choking a 3 legged bloody rabbit to death with their bear hands. I think I'd take a wide berth around that guy...

edit: accidentally snuck in a multi-quote.

bikeguyinvenice

Well with that type of injury I doubt the rabbit suffered very long. Either it died of shock/blood loss or was made a hot meal by a predator.

raqball

Craziest thing I've seen in a while a few weeks ago.

I was riding on the bike path and out of the corner of my eye I see a large bird swooping down fast at an angle. I look over and the bird has a squirrel. Right at that moment the bird dropped the squirrel (I assume the little guy was putting up a fight) and thud! A few feet in front of me and off to the right falls the squirrel.

Should I have stopped and gave the little guy CPR?

This was an out and back route. On the way back I actually slowed in the same spot to look for the squirrel. He/she was MIA so maybe the bird came back and snatched it back up, maybe a snake got it or perhaps another cyclist stopped and performed said CPR on the little fella..

LordMarv

It's cats you have to watch out for...sneaking, devious cats. Don't believe me? My buddy and I were riding on a mup through a park, kind of a secluded area...I heard a noise, turned around, and saw my good friend down, covered with masses of writhing, spitting siamese!!! They were leaping out of the trees and bushes onto him!! I couldn't help him. After the attack they scattered. All that was left of poor Dave was a carbon fork and a chamois pad. Why had they attacked? We'll never know. But I had read that certain breeds become enraged by lycra. So beware!!!