There should be a national law permitting euthanizing animals fatally injured by vehicle hitting them.

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There should be a national law permitting the humane euthanizing of animals fatally injured by vehicles hitting them. And there should be kits made available for carry in vehicle for responsible adults with no criminal record involving misuse of drugs or other offenses that maybe some can think to add to the list.

I have seen several deer on the side of a road, or still on a road after they were hit, and they were still alive, but with multiple broken limbs and no ability to stand at all. And it was obvious in each case that the deer was fatally injured, and still conscious, and was going to die soon. But an animal in such condition should not have to suffer for minutes or hours before it dies. In Pennsylvania any citizen with a permit to carry can not just put such an animal out of its misery without breaking some laws. Only police officers, rangers, vets, and a very few others can do that without breaking laws. And they are not always readily available. There should be kits containing drugs and jab sticks ( possibly a stick system that is carried collapsed and easily and quickly put together ) enabling the administrating of a first dose of meds, and if done with a two dose system also containing a second final dose that could be administered at close range after the animal is sedated and feeling no pain. And these drugs should be chosen so they can be stored for long times in hot and cold vehicles. It would OK if they were dehydrated and had to be rehydrated if that aided in there shelf life with the temperatures they would see. As long it they were quick and easy to rehydrate, and it was something that could be done safely.

Such kits should be designed to contain chemicals that those who would abuse drugs would not be interested in. They should be minimum weight and size. And supplied to decent reliable people to carry for a very low cost. They should be powerful enough to put down a full size full grown buck deer, or in areas that have moose, also powerful enough to handle a moose. And the user should know in advance or with some easy and quick to follow directions, how to adjust the doses for different weight animals, from a cat to a full size deer. Police, and some others should be provided such kits. And any decent adult average citizen with a clean record should be able to attend a short class and be certified to carry such kits at low or no cost.

I have seen too many deer suffering on the road or on the side of a road over the years. Today it was a fawn that weighed about 45 Lbs. It was hit before I got there, and none of its limbs moved, but it did raise its nose off the ground about 2 inches once, which indicated that it was still alive. Last fall it was a big buck that had compound fractures of two limbs and the other two were also broken and bent in unusual angles. It too could not stand at all but was still alive. Before that it was a full grown doe that was also still alive but just barely. That one the lady who hit it was still there, and a police officer had stopped and was figuring out how to shoot it. Unfortunately there was a gas meter right by the head of the deer, and just in the wrong spot to prevent the officer from shooting it in the back of the head, which is a humane location to put down an animal, and there were houses near by and a lot of traffic still moving close by.

I wish I had some kit along to euthanize that big buck I saw last fall, and the fawn I saw today. There is room for improvement in the laws regarding this, and in some clever well thought out kits for responsible adults to carry in there vehicles.
 
Just nonsense. That's all you need is for these "kits" to get in the wrong hands, misused and used on a human or domestic animal by a sick mind.. Your best bet still is to call law enforcement and let them euthanize the animal. I am sure it doesn't happen very often where an injured deer is next to a gas meter. .
 
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Like it or not, the best 'kit' is still a powder-propelled projectile.
I saw an episode of a 911 show where a guy calls in because a baby moose fell down a cliff and broke it's legs. He said he could shoot it if they gave him permission. The 911 dispatcher connected him to an officer, who told the guy to take care of it.
 
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I saw an episode of a 911 show where a guy calls in because a baby moose fell down a cliff and broke it's legs. He said he could shoot it if they gave hum permission. The 911 dispacher connected him to an officer, who told the guy to take care of it.
Can't say I've ever heard our dispatchers do that, but we're a smaller county and generally have enough deputies available that they can just go do it themselves, but I'd imagine that is pretty common in much more rural areas. I'm sure there are some rednecks around here that just do it and tote them off and don't tell anyone either.
 
These are the kind of things that an good officer will look the other way if a citizen takes care of the problem. But that is not always the case.

There are police officers, and some others, including older adults with a life long history of never abusing drugs, who can be trusted to hide a kit in there vehicle and tell no one it is there until it has to be used.

Sure there are idiots who would abuse anything. A vehicle, hammer or brick can also be abused. But there are also screening processes that can be used to identify the real responsible adults who can be trusted.
 
Whether a civilian may put a mortally wounded and suffering wild animal out of its misery depends on the local state law. A person's moral obligation may well clash with the law. The spirit of the law should be closely examined. Many laws exist only to prevent flagrant abuse of the law.
 
It's about animals that are hit by vehicles and put out of their misery right then and there. I like the idea of putting an animal out of its misery if you see that it's suffering.
Great post Jim.

How often does this happen? I've never encountered it. Generally I hear of hunters telling stories of following the blood trail from the animal they shot to finish it off. Not for me, I couldn't do it. Thank goodness my dad wasn't a hunter.
 
How is it going to be enforced? A law that cannot be enforced is good as useless. Also don't forget funding, when you pass a law like that someone somehow will try to make a business out of it. A lot of unintended consequences there.

Call the law enforcement and let them handle it.
 
I suspect most couldn't kill an animal even with a sugar coated kit.

That reminds me of a run-in I had with a partially run-over opossum in the 4 way stop in my neighborhood. I was on the way home from work and there's a lady standing in the middle of the road over this obviously injured animal. I'm not in a marked car, but in uniform and she looks at me like I'm going to save the day. I know animal control won't come out, but I call dispatch and check anyways, negative. So I tell the lady I'm going to go home and get a smaller gun, dispatching a possum with a .40 is a bit silly.

Go home, grab the .22, come back and there's a different lady standing over the thing. She's driving a VW Bug, new style, with actual real flowers in the little dash vase thing.

'what are you going to do?', she asks.

'well, I'm going to put it out of its misery and then go throw it along the road so it's not in the street'

At this point, she looks like she's about to faint. I figure I'm in for some form of tongue lashing, but she starts walking back towards her car and says, 'can you wait until I'm away from it, I'm going to go back home and pray for it'.

Definitely not what I expected, but I finished the job, went home, and went to sleep.
 
Really sad seeing wombats run over next to the road here... They're so slow and large I don't know how people can't avoid them. I firmly believe some (sick) people enjoy hitting them.
 
There should be a national law permitting the humane euthanizing of animals fatally injured by vehicles hitting them. And there should be kits made available for carry in vehicle for responsible adults with no criminal record involving misuse of drugs or other offenses that maybe some can think to add to the list.

I have seen several deer on the side of a road, or still on a road after they were hit, and they were still alive, but with multiple broken limbs and no ability to stand at all. And it was obvious in each case that the deer was fatally injured, and still conscious, and was going to die soon. But an animal in such condition should not have to suffer for minutes or hours before it dies. In Pennsylvania any citizen with a permit to carry can not just put such an animal out of its misery without breaking some laws. Only police officers, rangers, vets, and a very few others can do that without breaking laws. And they are not always readily available. There should be kits containing drugs and jab sticks ( possibly a stick system that is carried collapsed and easily and quickly put together ) enabling the administrating of a first dose of meds, and if done with a two dose system also containing a second final dose that could be administered at close range after the animal is sedated and feeling no pain. And these drugs should be chosen so they can be stored for long times in hot and cold vehicles. It would OK if they were dehydrated and had to be rehydrated if that aided in there shelf life with the temperatures they would see. As long it they were quick and easy to rehydrate, and it was something that could be done safely.

Such kits should be designed to contain chemicals that those who would abuse drugs would not be interested in. They should be minimum weight and size. And supplied to decent reliable people to carry for a very low cost. They should be powerful enough to put down a full size full grown buck deer, or in areas that have moose, also powerful enough to handle a moose. And the user should know in advance or with some easy and quick to follow directions, how to adjust the doses for different weight animals, from a cat to a full size deer. Police, and some others should be provided such kits. And any decent adult average citizen with a clean record should be able to attend a short class and be certified to carry such kits at low or no cost.

I have seen too many deer suffering on the road or on the side of a road over the years. Today it was a fawn that weighed about 45 Lbs. It was hit before I got there, and none of its limbs moved, but it did raise its nose off the ground about 2 inches once, which indicated that it was still alive. Last fall it was a big buck that had compound fractures of two limbs and the other two were also broken and bent in unusual angles. It too could not stand at all but was still alive. Before that it was a full grown doe that was also still alive but just barely. That one the lady who hit it was still there, and a police officer had stopped and was figuring out how to shoot it. Unfortunately there was a gas meter right by the head of the deer, and just in the wrong spot to prevent the officer from shooting it in the back of the head, which is a humane location to put down an animal, and there were houses near by and a lot of traffic still moving close by.

I wish I had some kit along to euthanize that big buck I saw last fall, and the fawn I saw today. There is room for improvement in the laws regarding this, and in some clever well thought out kits for responsible adults to carry in there vehicles.

I understand why trhat law is there. Otherwise people would aim for hitting deer and then shooting it. As a way to hunt out of season.

I've euthanised a couple fataly injured (small) animals to stop their suffering though, there are ways if you want.
 
I will argue that this is a BAD IDEA.

I can see it now, a woman and her son hit a deer. The mom readies the syringe while her son holds the deer. The deer suddenly twitches as the mom is moving in for the jab and jabs her son instead.
 
Growing up in NYS I remember someone hit a deep my neighborhood and when the police showed up they asked if any homeowners had a riffle and they asked the homeowner to put the deer down because it was less paperwork. Pretty sure they were breaking a law by discharging a firearm so close to a house.
 
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