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I'm the "heartless bastard" (as you no doubt are referring to me), that ran over your "beloved family pet". So "beloved" was this poor scared animal that you couldn't be bothered to actually look after it and keep it safe from harm. I'm sure it was like a child to you, which is why when it whined to go outside you couldn't bear to keep it "cooped up" because "it needed to roam". I'm sure when your two year old wants to play with the pretty shiny kitchen knives you allow that as well, because you couldn't bear to hear them whine.
Oh it's different with your "beloved pet" because it's "street smart"? No it's just been lucky, until now. Your pet does not understand what a car or bicycle is, or that they are dangerous. They cower and hope the "threat" passes them by unnoticed. Which works for a larger predator, not so much for a vehicle. Most pets are hit because they think that after the lights have passed it's safe, and they run under or into the vehicle(hence the "jerks who don't even stop"-they don't know they hit anything, most people can't see under their car).
Your cat was dark, and bike lights are not meant to illuminate the road, they are more for safety, to be visible to cars. I did not see your Grey Cat cowering in the road until I was literally on top of it, I ran over it's back with my front tire, causing possible internal and spinal injuries, which it may succumb to, I don't know. I do know that if I had been driving a car, it would not be merely injured, it would be very dead.
This "heartless bastard" spent 30 minutes looking for your "beloved pet" so I could get it medical attention, while you were safe and sound in bed, not knowing or caring that your "beloved pet" was injured and quite possibly dying. I did not have any luck finding it, and my husband had less luck trying to get me to stop crying because I had possibly/probably injured an animal.
But go ahead and blame me for the death of your "beloved family pet", lest you actually have to take some responsibility for your actions that caused this totally preventable incident, and feel remorseful. Or if you like you can delude yourself further, and remove all guilt/responsibility/remorse from yourself when your "beloved pet" fails to return home....you can tell yourself that "someone must have taken it". It's so much better than "maybe I shouldn't have let it out where it may have gotten killed by another animal or a vehicle, or tortured by a bored sociopath......"
at 4:15 am I ran over someone's cat while biking to work, spent 30 minutes looking for it with no luck, called my husband told him to be on standby with the cat carrier in case I found it. Spent the next two hours almost inconsolable. And I know if the cat was injured and did or didn't make it home, the owner of the animal would blame me, a total stranger, rather than own up to the fact that if they actually loved and cared for their animal, it would not have been in a situation where it could be hit by a vehicle. Too easy to blame someone else and project one's own responsibility onto someone else. It wasn't my cat, I had no responsibility to it at all. Not my job to keep it safe, yet I still feel horrible. I feel bad that an innocent animal had to suffer due to a human's stupidity or selfishness. That human took on the responsibility of caring for an animal, that is not just a "when I feel like it/when it's convenient to me" responsibility.
Oh it's different with your "beloved pet" because it's "street smart"? No it's just been lucky, until now. Your pet does not understand what a car or bicycle is, or that they are dangerous. They cower and hope the "threat" passes them by unnoticed. Which works for a larger predator, not so much for a vehicle. Most pets are hit because they think that after the lights have passed it's safe, and they run under or into the vehicle(hence the "jerks who don't even stop"-they don't know they hit anything, most people can't see under their car).
Your cat was dark, and bike lights are not meant to illuminate the road, they are more for safety, to be visible to cars. I did not see your Grey Cat cowering in the road until I was literally on top of it, I ran over it's back with my front tire, causing possible internal and spinal injuries, which it may succumb to, I don't know. I do know that if I had been driving a car, it would not be merely injured, it would be very dead.
This "heartless bastard" spent 30 minutes looking for your "beloved pet" so I could get it medical attention, while you were safe and sound in bed, not knowing or caring that your "beloved pet" was injured and quite possibly dying. I did not have any luck finding it, and my husband had less luck trying to get me to stop crying because I had possibly/probably injured an animal.
But go ahead and blame me for the death of your "beloved family pet", lest you actually have to take some responsibility for your actions that caused this totally preventable incident, and feel remorseful. Or if you like you can delude yourself further, and remove all guilt/responsibility/remorse from yourself when your "beloved pet" fails to return home....you can tell yourself that "someone must have taken it". It's so much better than "maybe I shouldn't have let it out where it may have gotten killed by another animal or a vehicle, or tortured by a bored sociopath......"
at 4:15 am I ran over someone's cat while biking to work, spent 30 minutes looking for it with no luck, called my husband told him to be on standby with the cat carrier in case I found it. Spent the next two hours almost inconsolable. And I know if the cat was injured and did or didn't make it home, the owner of the animal would blame me, a total stranger, rather than own up to the fact that if they actually loved and cared for their animal, it would not have been in a situation where it could be hit by a vehicle. Too easy to blame someone else and project one's own responsibility onto someone else. It wasn't my cat, I had no responsibility to it at all. Not my job to keep it safe, yet I still feel horrible. I feel bad that an innocent animal had to suffer due to a human's stupidity or selfishness. That human took on the responsibility of caring for an animal, that is not just a "when I feel like it/when it's convenient to me" responsibility.
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