My daughter and I just had a horrible experience

[Evergreen Emerald]

We were outside planting trees for Earth Day. We saw a squirrel in the driveway. My dog went after it. We tried to stop him, to no avail. He caught it and had it in his mouth. As he was shaking the life out of it, the squirrel screamed. My daughter and I went into the house, sick and crying, and no longer in the mood to celebrate Mother Earth.

My daughter said she will never forget the sound of that squirrel screaming.

[Left Is Write]

1. I'm so sorry...that sounds traumatic.

How old is your daughter?

[Evergreen Emerald]

2. 16 years

It would have been more traumatic had she been younger. But we are just...sick about it. It was not pretty.

[miss_american_pie]

3. Oh how awful

We hit a deer once. I had no idea deer screamed.

I hope your daughter's okay.

[Evergreen Emerald]

5. she put her jammies on at 3pm

I did not know deer and squirrel screamed either. At first I thought the scream came from my daughter.

Sorry about the deer.

[mcar]

4. Nature can be fierce sometimes

My wonderful,loving cat used to bring home animals as a love offering for me all the time. Baby rabbits, birds, squirrels, moles. She would get very upset if I didn't appreciate her "gift." I'd usually run screaming for my husband (yes, I'm a feminist but if someone else will handle the dead things :shrug: ).

She's older now and doesn't hunt anymore. She's still very loving. It is animals' nature to hunt but can be unpleasant for us human non-hunting animals. :hi:

[Evergreen Emerald]

7. you are right

nature can be fierce. We just lost the desire to celebrate nature today.

I remember once when our cat brought a (LARGE) snake into the house as a gift for us. We stood on the kitchen table until my husband took it outside. (I am also a feminist!)

[Thtwudbeme]

6. When my Dad was teaching me to drive

I hit a bunny and almost put the car in a ditch over it: I killed the bunny, and damn near gave Dad a heart attack.

I was so hysterical over the bunny, I couldn't be bothered to worry about the car, which gave Dad a bigger heart attack--

But, I am 42 now, and somehow we all survived....sometimes we just see sucky things...and it's that horrible sympathy and empathy that make us humans.

:hug:

[Evergreen Emerald]

10. wise words

You are right. It could be worse: we could have no empathy for other beings.
(would that make us Cheney?)

[Shine]

8. Oh, that's sad.

sorry about that. It's weird it happened right when you were planting trees for Earth Day...

I guess the Circle of Life can be pretty harsh sometimes. :hug:

[OldLeftieLawyer]

9. No, it's good

Your daughter learned about how nature works today. Your dog did what dogs do, and the squirrel did what squirrels do when caught by dogs.

Otherwise, you're going to have to deal with her thinking creationism is real science.

I'd say it was a good lesson. Good lessons are sometimes tough. But, it's good.

Watching Mother Earth at work is no reason to have quit celebrating Mother Earth. Think about it.

[ghostsofgiants]

16. Yeah...

That'll teach the hippies tha nature's not all hugging trees and not showering. :evilgrin:

(Haha, sorry, couldn't resist.)

[OldLeftieLawyer]

17. You're so bad,

but, you know, it's true............

[951-Riverside]

11. I think you should continue on with your celebration

Although the attack seems odd for a pet its called survival if his anceststers didn't do the same he wouldn't be here. I hope you didn't punish the poor thing, he didn't know better.

[Evergreen Emerald]

12. no we didn't punish him.

We usually have lots of bunnies and squirrels in the yard, and he generally runs after them, with little attempt at catching them. In fact he appears to slow down when he gets to them. He got lucky.

[Wetzelbill]

13. yeah it sucks

but that's the pet's instinct. Not pretty to see, granted, but nature is harsh like that. Poor squirrel though, that is a tough thing.

[Wetzelbill]

14. I once

saw a dog kill a gopher. It was awful. I wasn't traumatized like you and your daughter were though. She may not ever forget the screaming, but she'll get over it soon enough. Nature is damn harsh, no doubt about it.

[Nikia]

15. Luckily my dog doesn't kill animals

He barks at them and chases them until they leave the yard or area we are in. The only animals that he does kill are insects. He once tried eating a worm but spit it out once he had it in his mouth.
I once had a cat that brought a beheaded bunny to the porch when I was in kindergarten. That was traumatic.

[skygazer]

18. Oh, that's hard

And harsh though it is the true nature of things. My son saw one of the neighborhood dogs kill a bunny one day when he was about six - he was the only person around and he told me, crying, that he had called and called the dog's name trying to get it to stop but it wouldn't. I was just grateful that he hadn't gone near and possibly gotten bit himself but it was a hard thing for him to see.

:hug:

[giant_robot]

19. Sorry you had to see that,

but like previous posters mentioned, it *is* what dogs and cats do. Just be glad it wasn't a rabbit your dog caught. They sound almost exactly like a human baby crying when the scream.

[RebelOne]

20. That must have been an awful experience.

especially to hear the poor little squirrel screaming. I have a Rottweiller and have many squirrels around my house, but she doesn't show any interest in them. I think I would be devastated if she ever killed one.

[The2ndWheel]

21. Talk about balance

Life and death in real time.

[begin_within]

22. I've been putting out food for squirrels, but the other day my cat killed

one of the two that I have seen in our yard - and ate the entire squirrel. The sad thing is that I know there were 2 squirrels, I saw 2 at a time once, and I think they were husband and wife. So now one of them remains without a mate. I was furious at the cat for a day or two, but now I realize it's beyond their control - that's in their nature.

[pitohui]

28. you put out food for squirrels

crap what's next, putting out food for raccoons

oh wait i have a friend who actually does that

what is the symbol for head in hands?

i guess i put out food for squirrels too they don't seem to take the hint of stupid ass eighteen dollar squirrel guards

[begin_within]

30. Well, I should explain. I live in the middle of San Diego, a large city,

and wildlife is not that common except for lots of birds and the occasional skunk. When I put out birdseed along a low wall in the backyard, I spied a squirrel eating the sunflower seeds one day and enjoyed seeing him/her there. So I started putting out more sunflower seeds and peanuts for the squirrel. One day I saw 2 squirrels on the wall, so I assumed they were a family. It was fun having them visit almost every day. But that's all history now, since the cat intervened.

[eleonora]

23. not to sound insensitive but

it's the circle of life :P

Dog will kill squirrel...cat will kill mouse....

[Floogeldy]

25. Tarzan teach Boy to be strong like lion . . .

. . . and happy, like bird. :)

[Southsideirish]

24. "Nature red in tooth and claw." I intervene whenever I can but sometimes

you just can't do anything. I adopted some "outside" cats (I hate the term "feral") and the "mommy cat" caught a robin in her claws and no matter what I did I couldn't get her to stop - I doused her with water and tried to hit her with a branch but nothing could get to drop the poor bird.

I just said a prayer for it and hoped its suffering wasn't in vain.

[Floogeldy]

26. You might want to think about dumping the dog.

I've never heard of such a thing.

[GirlinContempt]

29. Yeah, get rid of the dog

:eyes:

[pitohui]

27. can i buy that dog?

big squirrel problem at this house lately