My first wildlife rescue

I am a planner.  I hate surprises.  And like a Boy Scout, I believe in always being prepared.  Since moving out to the woods, it has been in the back of my mind that we would inevitably find one of our wild creatures in distress, so I have spent a great deal of time and energy preparing for all manner of wildlife emergency.  I have a small library of books on wildlife rescue and rehabilitation, and keep the phone numbers of our nearest wildlife professionals by the phone.  I even have a wildlife rescue kit and checklist close at hand so that I can leap into action if and when one of my wild creatures is in need.

So as expected, during an early morning run on the property we spotted a young buck lying down in the woods, apparently unable to stand.  At first, we thought he had gotten his back legs caught in an old barbed-wire fence, but upon further observation discovered that his entire back end was completely paralyzed.  We surmised that he had been hit by a car on the main road and that his back must have been broken by the impact.  Apparently having dragged himself at least 200 yards from the road to the interior of our property, he was exhausted; yet his flight instincts still compelled him to flee from us.  It was agonizing to watch him frantically pulling his whole body along by just his two front legs.  With a heavy heart, we knew that the kindest way to "rescue" our buck would be to shoot him in the head.

I've never shot or intentionally killed any living creature, save a handful of mice and the occasional blood-sucking mosquito. I even put spiders back outside where they belong.  Chivalrously, Bill offered to pull the trigger.  And even though I technically wasn't the one who ended this particular life, I still felt obliged to be fully present for this final act.  I felt that to do right by this animal, I needed to be there in mind, body and spirit...to feel the gravity of my decision and to fully understand the implications of my actions.

Needless to say, my first wildlife rescue didn't exactly go as I had envisioned and prepared for.  But that's okay.  Nature is teaching me to live in the present, to think and act on my feet, and to expect the unexpected.  Good life lessons, don't you think?