Gee, and everyone laughed at our mayor in Davis when she had a frog-crossing tunnel constructed.



I always get a perverse chuckle when I watch motorists willingly stop for turkeys, deer and whatever on the same local roadway where they wantonly harass cyclists. I guess we're just not cute enough to warrant such treatment.

I recall seeing a nature show about how the Cane Toad is out of control in parts of Australia and how a scientist loves to squash as many as he can with his car. It seemed cruel to me, especially how he smiled while doing it.

I am perhaps incorrect in my assumption but I tend to think that the very people who willingly brake for deer, ducks, turtles, whatever, are the same who would brake for cyclists.

I also assume that those who would willingly and wantonly harass wildlife are also the type who would harass cyclists.

No data to back up my claim, just my thoughts.

I have a solution for that. Just dress in a yogi bear or bugs bunny costume.

I would love to see tunnels for cyclists and pedestrians. There are several freeway overpasses in my city with ramps and exits which are extremely dangerous for cyclists to cross. We already have organizations to protect animals and prevent cruelty, I don't know of any organization which has power to protect cyclists.

But not Donald Duck?

I don't know how slowly we have to go to avoid running over animals. I ran over an opossum on my bike early one morning. We both made poor judgements on where the other was going, I guess.

One day I ran over a rabbit when I was just running. It came out from hiding by the trail whilst I was in mid-air and I came down on it. I guess if I walked everywhere I could avoid running over things.

As far as I know I didn't kill or even badly hurt the possum or the rabbit, though. They both went running off after the event.

I actually killed a squirrel on my bike a few years ago. I was bombing down a hill, having fun, when a squirrel chased another across the road right in front of me. I tried to brake, but it was too little, too late. I caught the chaser under my front tire, right at the neck. I heard a little popping sound, and knew it was the end. I slowed down and looked back, and sure enough, there was the little guy, dead as a door nail. I felt pretty bad about it, but I imagine the squirrel he was chasing felt kind of relieved at the time...

I killed two sparrows with a car. I killed a falcon with a motorcycle. I killed two snakes with a motorcycle. I killed a beautiful pet cat with a motorcycle. All this over a lifetime and a couple of million miles of driving and riding. Never killed anything with a bicycle.

I remember each event with great and detailed clarity and am tearing-up slightly as I type this. Each and all of these losses were truly accidents and the result of chance, but --- I still feel responsible and sad about each and all of them.

Recently, a humming bird flew into my living room window and was killed by the impact. I picked him up and placed him where I could watch him should he recover (they often do). He didn't; he was dead. He was a beautiful creature and he is gone. Sure, there are likely a million or more of his precise kin flying around being beautiful but what, I thought as I was burying him under our apricot tree, if he were the only one and there was no other. That thought was sobering; I was reminded that each amazing example of life is precious and that I/we should never take them for granted. And, certainly, we should never needlessly, carelessly and callously destroy life. We must kill to eat; we are not plants. I believe, however, that we should carefully consider how we define needful killing.

I, long ago, taught myself to brake for and/or dodge animals if I could do so safely. "Safely" meaning without endangering myself of those around me. It is crucial that we train our minds to react thoughtfully and not revert to 'knee-jerk' actions.

Several decades ago a freshly drunk man (he was returning to work after drinking his lunch) ran across the road toward my car. I could not stop to avoid him but the oncoming lane was empty and I was able to dodge the dope. I did look first before dodging; if a car had been coming, I would have hit and probably killed him (35mph) -- my priorities were right; if someone was to get hurt it would and should have been the bozo. I had trained myself to think and react that way. I can still 'see' his face as he lightly brushed the side of my car and fell, uninjured, in a heap in the middle of the road.

A couple of decades later and late at night, a coyote ran across in front of a car very near my house. The driver knee-jerked to the right and ran straight into a large Eucalyptus tree. The impact put his young wife into a wheelchair for life. Shoulda hit the damned dog.

Road kill isn't only done by cars though. I passed this elderly guy, who was cruising along the MUP last summer under 10 mph, who had a bird spinning in his rear wheel spokes. I stopped him to let him know, since for some reason the guy had no idea it was there.

Last summer I saw more rabbits dashing across the rail trail directly in front of me than I have ever seen crossing the local rural roadways. I managed to come within 3 feet! of a white tailed doe on my bike last year, something even a stealthy hunter wouldn't be able to do.

Do you not get at least a little disturbed when you read or hear about the deaths of other human beings that you've never seen? It's not that much of a stretch to apply a certain degree of empathy to animals as well.

Killing animals for food is totally acceptable to me. We're at the top of the food chain, and, let's face it, some animals are both nutritious and delicious. (I strongly suspect that our own domestic cats would probably kill and eat us if they could.) Killing animals as a recreational hunter is a bit less acceptable in my book, but I can see that there may be social and environmental benefits to the practice. Running down animals in your car just because you enjoy killing things more vulnerable than yourself is pathological, and such people should be denied access to cars, guns, or even pocket knives until they've undergone some serious counseling. There's something seriously wrong with people who intentionally kill or maim animals just because they think it's fun, and I certainly don't want to share the road with them.

Criminy! I can't get away from "duckgate" even on Bike Forums! It's been on the front page of the local paper for months now - not a lot happens here - so the poor ducks have not been forgotten. They were memorialized Sunday evening with a candle light vigil (they even sang Amazing Grace!) by folks who were attending a libertarian conference at the hotel where the ducks lived (well, the ducks lived in a pond on the hotel grounds).
I'm thinking that a memorial statue might be next.

Killing animals to eat is not necessary for good nutrition if you learn about healthy alternatives. I'm 53 and the last time I consumed meat, I was 17 years old.

It's a personal choice though. What disturbs me the most, is people that consume animal products and don't really even think of the animal. If I did think eating meat were necessary for good nutrition, I would at least want to honor that animal - to say a prayer and give thanks for the life I'm about to consume. So many people just eat burgers and such and don't really think of the life that was given. And then to throw part of it in the trash can, now that's really insane.

And then to support the meat industry in the modern world and the suffering they put the animals thru brings it to a new level. It's one thing to slaughter a pig that's played in the sun and the mud for a couple years doing just what he wanted. It's yet another thing to slaughter a pig that's been raised in a box that's too small for him to even turn around. What meaningless suffering in the name of turning a few more pennies profit.

I'm sure I've killed many an inch worm on my bicycle and not even known it. Collateral damage.