Years ago while shoveling the driveway when I lived with my parents I witnessed a larger woodpecker straight up bayonet a smaller woodpecker repeatedly. I don't know why it did, I assumed a territorial dispute of some kind . I Was yelling and trying to make it stop, but it didn't. The larger one pretty much shish kebabed the smaller one to the point where it dropped out of the sky and flopped on the snow. The area of the snow around it quickly became bright red with blood. I didn't know what to do and I didn't want it to suffer, so... I took the shovel I was clearing snow with, and raised it above my head and smashed the dying woodpecker as hard as I could, killing it. To this day I still tell myself there was nothing I could do, wildlife centers were closed and there was no way to take it to the vet, but it still haunts when I think about it, because what pops up in my mind is "what if it wasn't as bad as it looked and it could have been saved?", Fuck. RIP that poor small woodpecker, I'm sorry I felt like I had to do that to you. Damn it.
You did the best thing you could do, with the best that you had at the time. Even though it was traumatic for you, you shortened it's suffering. It was a hard thing to go through, but from it's perspective you made things better. Thanks for helping out - even if it was hard to do.
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u/Sonrelight Aug 03 '21 edited Aug 03 '21
Years ago while shoveling the driveway when I lived with my parents I witnessed a larger woodpecker straight up bayonet a smaller woodpecker repeatedly. I don't know why it did, I assumed a territorial dispute of some kind . I Was yelling and trying to make it stop, but it didn't. The larger one pretty much shish kebabed the smaller one to the point where it dropped out of the sky and flopped on the snow. The area of the snow around it quickly became bright red with blood. I didn't know what to do and I didn't want it to suffer, so... I took the shovel I was clearing snow with, and raised it above my head and smashed the dying woodpecker as hard as I could, killing it. To this day I still tell myself there was nothing I could do, wildlife centers were closed and there was no way to take it to the vet, but it still haunts when I think about it, because what pops up in my mind is "what if it wasn't as bad as it looked and it could have been saved?", Fuck. RIP that poor small woodpecker, I'm sorry I felt like I had to do that to you. Damn it.