there's a chipmunk on my porch

[pianistimo]

the cat just bit it enough to paralyze it.  now what do i do? it's breathing ok.  kind of got a glazed over eye look.  i don't have any anesthesia.  it's probably petrified of the cat coming around again.  she just left it there.  i think i'll carry it carefully on a piece of board or something away from the porch where the cat won't find it again. 

[timothy42b]

pianistimmo,

Not everybody agrees with me on this issue but it is one I feel fairly strongly about.

We are morally obligated not to let an animal suffer needlessly.  This comes with the territory - the rights and responsibilities of being a human. 

Chipmunks generally get over a fright quickly.  They are after all prey, and they are used to close calls.  So I assume the cat actually injured it, maybe more than is obvious.

Now you have a chore on your hands that is unpleasant, but you must finish the job.  You are known to be a soft hearted person and this is probably more repugnant to you than to many.  I am not as obviously softhearted <ahem> but I feel the same way.  Neverytheless it is the right thing to do.  Put aside your squeamishness, think of the animal instead, and kill it as quickly and mercifully as possible. 

If you can't (like my children.  They would agree it is the right thing to do, but not be able to carry it out.) then find someone nearby to help. 

Methods.  Okay, this paragraph is gross.  But giving you the task and not the tools is unfair.  The cleanest and quickest way to do this is drop it in a paper bag and give the bag a hard smack against a wall or floor.  It is instant and final.  This is what I do for mice, and I NEVER let the kids see.  Your other options are drowning and suffocation.  Frankly I can't see you being able to stand doing that.  It takes too long and gives you too much time to think about it. 

Of course, you might be lucky and it will recover from being stunned.  I've lived around a lot of chipmunks and never seen this happen, but we can hope.  I would not give it back to the cat.  Cats are anything but quick and merciful.  I would also consider that as fast and alert as chipmunks are, they hardly ever get caught by a cat unless already sick or weakened. 

[gilad]

take it to a vet or animal care centre, thats what i always do with injured birds. they can do what has to be done.

[prometheus]

Nature is cruel. Problem is that nature doesn't stop were our gardens start and where our domesticated cats live.

This creates moral problems. In the an utopia we should be able to cure a bird of everything. But this is just not the case, obviously. If a bird has a broken wing then it just has a big problem. A bird, or any animal, has no good chance in cruel nature with a weakness. I think the effort and energy put into healing a bird injured by a car or something is often wasted energy and could better be invested in reducing the risk of this happening. From nature's perspective we can only hope that the animal has already reproduced. Or if it has not, that the 'bad genes', resulting in mistakes have been eliminated. Of course, the last part is really crude since a lot of genes, and their carriers, will be eliminated by bad luck instead of bad genes.
But animal gene pools on the long run are important. For example, me and my family feed birds in our gardens during winter. And we provide artificial nesting. This is because we like birds. But this is selfish of us. On the long term we will be influencing the gene pool, polluting the gene pool. Of course our influence is very very minor. But the cruelty of nature, the fact that a lot of animals die and genes are eliminated, has caused nature to be like it is now. Birds are 'smart' because they need to be to survive cruel nature. I like to see agile and smart birds. So I can't ignore the cruelty of nature.

I really see no solution to these problems. From my ethical perspective we need to seperate nature and human society and influence. Something utterly impossible since we live in the same world.

[pianistimo]

being that i had a meeting this morning - i left the chipmunk around the corner of the house.  but the cat has come in and out three or four times.  i will now go around the corner of the house and see if anything new has developed.  if the chipmunk is still there - i will ask him about his nearest of kin.  hopefully he/she has reproduced - so i won't feel badly about the surviving children (?) in any case - i could not bring myself to do the paper bag trick - although if it were a spider i would hit it 5-6 times with a wrapped up newspaper. 

chipmunks are just plain cute.  u can't do anything but talk them thru their pain and hope they recuperate.  this little one had his/her paws together in front and was just fairly passive when picked up this morning.  i gently hid him in a place where the cat probably wouldn't look. 

[prometheus]

hopefully he/she has reproduced - so i won't feel badly about the surviving children

What? Was this aimed at what I said about reproduction? Is this a pun joke?

The chipmunk will probably only fear your presence so I do not really understand how you can 'talk it through the pain'.

[henrah]

The chipmunk will probably only fear your presence so I do not really understand how you can 'talk it through the pain'.

You're too sane-minded to understand Prometheus. It's simply a way of comforting herself, so please don't burst her bubble and make her feel even worse for what has happened.

[prometheus]

I though she was joking so I concluded it was best to move into my own stereotype.