A Truly Despicable Act
I’m driving my youngest daughter to school yesterday. We drive by the University of Phoenix complex out on Route 9 to get to her place. On and around the campus are dozens of geese constantly milling about, feeding on the grass, wading in the brook, and otherwise going about their business while the cars and traffic go about their’s. I’ve seen many times where the geese crossing the road to the other glade held up traffic for several minutes. And that’s what happened yesterday.
Sophia and I were watching the geese orderly making their way from the top of the campus to the glade across the street. We stopped and watched gleefully, as did the oncoming traffic opposite us. From behind me, a car comes flying up, makes a hard bank around me, and continues on toward the flock. Having plenty of time to see what was going on in front of us, it continues at full speed, taking down one of the older geese in its path. It hit the poor bird head on and even crushed part of his back. I couldn’t believe it as it continued on, without slowing at all, the brake lights never once lighting. I swore loudly, but then quickly redirected my daughter’s attention to the little geese formed to our right in the grass. That poor bird lay there, his long head bobbing and swaying, swooning, until he collapsed and fell over. The other birds looked on for a moment, and then made their way to the other side. I was truly shaken when I dropped off my daughter, and for the rest of the day, to be honest. When I drove back out that way, I could see the poor bird laying there while the rest of the flock stood, all in a row safely in the grass, looking helplessly at their lost comrade. Truly awful and sad.
August 7th, 2007 at 6:23 am
A completely illegal act. Truly sad and despicable. Humans really suck sometimes.
If it happens again, try to get the license plate number and report that person.
August 8th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
[...] On the other side of the coin, an example of malicious human behavior towards birds disgusts me. A friend of mine recently blogged about an experience he had when he was in traffic because of a gaggle of Canadian Geese walking across Rt. 9, a state highway that runs through his neck of the woods. He was taking his daughter to school. She was innocently enjoying the moment, when a car from behind his, sped past him and drove down the geese working their way into a glade. It took out an old goose, breaking its back, where it died a slow death. The other birds could only scramble out of the way and watch this unfortunate bird succumb to its injuries. Disgusting. [...]
September 16th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
I wish I could say it was unbelievable, but unfortunately I cannot. The saddest part is that it would probably have happened even if it were children. Sure the criminal may have braked to avoid the children at the last second, but only to avoid an inconvenient manslaughter trial.
It seems that people are somehow transformed as soon as they step into a motorized steel cage on wheels. Suddenly they seem to believe that the entire world around them is just an obstacle. They become self absorbed, ill-mannered and callous.
It’s not everyone, of course. There are a rare few that believe speed limits and other traffic laws are set to save lives, not to inconvenience motorists.
They say power corrupts… I witness it daily on my commute. Horsepower corrupts absolutely.
October 2nd, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Oh man, I come to check on you and this is the first thing I see! Sad that there are such cruel people out there!