A funny thing happened on the way home last night ...

[dizzojay]

I had one of those strange experiences where instinct kicks in and common sense takes a hike last night.

Driving home from work around 5pm, the traffic suddenly became very slow; it's only a little road, wooded either side, but it tends to be a rat run for people (like me) taking a shortcut between several local villages.

It was still daylight, but just creeping into dusk, and as I moved forward, I could see the hold up and I couldn't believe my eyes.

A deer.  Sitting in the middle of the road.  Not lying, so it wasn't dead, it was sitting; looking around at all the traffic crawling around it and clearly terrified out of its wits.

And that was it; I just couldn't ignore the poor thing.

Pulling over onto the grass verge, I climbed out of my car, then thought, woah, hang on Diz - what the hell are you going to do?  It was one of those big red deer, so there was no way I'd be able to move it on my own, and I have no authority to stop traffic!

I'd decided I was going to go into the boot of my car and get my warning triangle to put in front of it to give it a bit of breathing space while I called the RSPCA, but before I did I heard a voice behind me.

"I can't believe all these bastards just driving by!"

I turned round, and a young guy had pulled up beside me.

"Well, now you're here, perhaps we could try to get him out of the road before it starts getting really dark?"  I replied, "then when he's out of danger we can call the RSPCA"

He nodded and we began to walk back up to the the deer, only to find it had somehow managed to drag itself into the wood by the side of the road.  We could see exactly where it went by a trail of blood.

In high heels and skirt, I wasn't exactly dressed for wandering through the woods, so the guy went in to see if he could locate it while I phoned the RSPCA; I know they don't come out to wildlife calls unless the animal is in sight.

We then stood there, hearing the poor thing shuffling around behind us, by the side of the road as it got dark and freezing cold waiting for the RSPCA who eventually came, thanked us for our efforts and took the deer away.

The guy with me was pretty convinced it had broken it's leg, so whilst I would love to think it could be fixed, I have every expectation the RSPCA put it down, but at least it's not suffering any more and it died somewhere warm and comfortable.

When I got home and thawed out, I sat down and thought to myself; "Diz, you just stood out for an hour on a dark, unlit road, with no pavements, surrounded by woods, and put your trust in a bloke you've never set eyes on before and never will again.  You're a moron."

Yep, I'm a moron!

Comments

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

A lovely well meaning moron though hun, I'd have done exactly the same thing...and in fact have done for a stranded calf (we live in the butt end of no where and these things happen a lot) so, as you didn't get mawled by a random guy I say good on you sweets. Not many people would bother to even try and help the poor thing.

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

There are certain things I just can't ignore, and that's one of them!

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

... but he might have been Dean ...?

[fanspired]

The world needs more morons like you.

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

Oh, it would be an odd place if there were!

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

People like you and that guy are what give me hope for the world.

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

Well thank you, I don't think I did anything amazingly special, I was just doing something that I thought needed to be done - there are some things I just can't ignore!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Nah, it was the right thing to do, so well done you. *Gives you a gold star for compassion*.

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

:)
I don't know how I would have been feeling now if I'd have just driven by!

[metallidean-grl.livejournal.com]

Brava to you for stopping and helping out this wounded animal. So many times, we human beings are in too much of a rush to get to our next "thing" that we forget or push aside other people, or in this case, a wounded animal, in our own selfish adventure. I admire you and this other guy for stopping and seeing to it that this deer was taken care of.

Had the deer been left on the road, who knows what kinda of havoc might have been created, a car could have hit her and thus causing a chain action accident or something worse. Even though the animal was probably put down ;( I am glad that she was at least tended to and put out of her misery. Good job diz!

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

Thank you!
In hindsight, it was probably a bit reckless - I certainly won't be telling my parents about it, I'd get the personal safety lecture to end them all, but I'm still glad I did it :)

[metallidean-grl.livejournal.com]

I guess it might have been a little reckless, safety wise, and I would receive the same kind of reaction from my parents, but I am glad you did it as well. We are all on this earth together and we need to take care of each other when we can, even the animals.