I decapitated a bird

[Fireman]

So there was a little bird in my backyard who flew against the window near our house.

 

His head was at a 180* degree angle, it couldn't move any bodyparts except his eyes and beak, it was just laying there chirping. So I decided to put it out of his misery, even though it could still chirp.

 

 

Is this wrong?

[anus]

What I've learned is to not interfere with nature.

 

However, I can't tell you if it's wrong or right.

[Andrew]

Perhaps taking it to the vets for them to do humanely or even tried to heal the bird, would have been the better option, but based on the fact it sounds like the bird would have been in immense pain and suffering. I think you've done the right thing.

[E.A.B.]

 

I can't tell you if it's wrong or right.

You sure as hell can imply it, though

 

Double whammy question; are we not a part of nature? You can't ''interfere'' if you're an active participant

[anus]

Good point.

 

But the point I was trying to make is that it won't really matter what I think of it.

[ska]

If the decapitation was done quickly enough to ensure that the bird was feeling no pain, I really don't think it suffered. I think once the brain has been separated from the body, one doesn't feel pain. I'm just assuming that though.

 

I think you did the right thing. That is, if the bird was actually dying or severely injured.

[Shayan Shaffey]

Actually, the body is alive for 11 seconds after the brain is separated.

[Jay]

What I've learned is to not interfere with nature.

Putting a window there is interfering.

[ska]

Actually, the body is alive for 11 seconds after the brain is separated.

Yeah, but you aren't feeling it because you (your mind, brain, etc.) are no longer connected to your body. Those eleven seconds are nothing.

[TheNathanNS]

i think its only right IF the bird was suffering major pain and the vet's couldn't heal him which by then the vets would put him to sleep

[OverTheBelow]

i think its only right IF the bird was suffering major pain and the vet's couldn't heal him which by then the vets would put him to sleep

Hmm. I wonder if you would feel pain if your head was at a 180 degree angle?

 

 

A bird flew directly into our patio window once and fell down in shock (its eyes were still open). We decided to just let it rest on the grass for a while to see if it would regain full consciousness, but it didn't wake up again after closing its eyes unfortunately.

[Swoorup]

If you felt thats right for the bird at that moment then you did the good thing!!!

[Original Light]

Perhaps taking it to the vets for them to do humanely or even tried to heal the bird, would have been the better option, but based on the fact it sounds like the bird would have been in immense pain and suffering. I think you've done the right thing.

Same here, if it was going to be in extreme pain, it would have been better for it to die than live.

[Rebel]

Reminds me when I was a kid and my cat got a bird but just left it with a broken wing and stuff to die slowly. My dad and me took it inside - wrapped it up in a towel and put it on the the table to try and warm it up since it was so cold. We couldn't do anything to help it since it was pretty f*cked up, but my dad didn't have the heart to kill it quickly.

 

I think at the end of the day it depends if you could of lived with the chirping until it passed. Or if you can live with yourself after you killed it. I mean, you basically did kill it - despite it being on its last legs.

[Harley]

pics?

[Saggy]

No, you put yourself at risk to any communicable disease the bird carried, especially if it managed to peck you or something like that. The ideal thing to have done is to have smashed it with a large rock and disposed of the body in a double-layered bag.

 

Or perhaps you're questioning the moral ambiguity of euthanasia? No one can answer that question for you. Just as no one can decide for you what the "humane" way of dealing with the situation was. The most important thing to remember though, is that you don't need to justify what you felt was right to anyone but yourself.

 

The idea of taking it to a vet... Yeah, that's noble and everything, but who is going to pay for it? Are you really going to go out of your way to drive it to the vet? Want to take the risk that it's got some sort of disease too? Why do you really care about it so much? Do you sympathize for it, do you just feel too much empathy with the pain its in? Or do you just feel that you should do one thing or another, based on what other people expect of you?

 

Ask yourself... If you had left that bird there to die slowly, what would have changed in this outcome? Would you go to hell for being a bad person? Would you be strung up as a bad person? What's at stake here is how it would make you feel. Would you be comfortable knowing that it died a slow and agonizing death? You made a decision already that a quick death would be better than that, so the only thing that would really be any different had you let the bird live is that you would feel you did the wrong thing by letting it suffer. We can't always know if we did the right or wrong thing, we can only make decisions. You would have this doubt whether you took it to a vet, slammed it with a shovel or threw it over the fence for the neighbor's cat to play with.

 

It's all your decision.

[TheNathanNS]

No, you put yourself at risk to any communicable disease the bird carried, especially if it managed to peck you or something like that. The ideal thing to have done is to have smashed it with a large rock and disposed of the body in a double-layered bag.

 

what the f*ck?

[Cheat]

He's joking, Nathan...

 

I think that it would've been mission impossible to take the poor bird to a vet alive, unless there's one next door or down the block, of course interfering with nature is wrong to some degree, but saving an animal for suffering horribly and painfully doesn't seem that wrong to me. I think you did the right thing.

[epoxi]

If the decapitation was done quickly enough to ensure that the bird was feeling no pain, I really don't think it suffered. I think once the brain has been separated from the body, one doesn't feel pain. I'm just assuming that though.

 

I think you did the right thing. That is, if the bird was actually dying or severely injured.

Pretty much what I think. It'd probably be a disappointing visit to the dentist if you tried to save it anyway.

 

On the other hand, if it was a crude thing you did for no reason and you're regretting it, don't worry about it: just don't do it again.

[Voodoo]

You were wrong not to make soup.

 

 

[Original Light]

No, you put yourself at risk to any communicable disease the bird carried, especially if it managed to peck you or something like that. The ideal thing to have done is to have smashed it with a large rock and disposed of the body in a double-layered bag.

 

 

 

 

You are a sick man...

[mark-2007]

Just look at the pain in his eyes...

 

 

Murderer.

[Toup]

 

 

Yeah why not kill the bird? You did the right thing.

[A J]

I had to do something a lot worse recently

 

In some ways I wish I had just left the animal to die slowly and in pain, but as I'm responsible for their welfare and so I put it out of its misery with the shotgun.

 

I've hunted and shot animals before, and have no problem with killing, but killing something helpless and unable to move or escape, is very very difficult, I have no idea how some people can work at abbatoirs.

[Oddsock]

No, you put yourself at risk to any communicable disease the bird carried, especially if it managed to peck you or something like that.  The ideal thing to have done is to have smashed it with a large rock and disposed of the body in a double-layered bag.

 

 

 

 

You are a sick man...

Smash it, behead it, who cares? The idea here is a swift mercy killing. I think the OP was right in his actions. The bird obviously wasn't going to recover; it was f*cked. The quickest and most painless way to kill a small animal like that is either crushing their head or quickly decapitating them. Instant death and no suffering.

 

That being said, I'd hate to do it, but I think the OP's actions are justified.

[OchyGTA]

Yh you did the right thing, even if you'd of taken it to the vets to let them do it, you would have had to pay so a mercy killing is acceptable.

[Fireman]

His heads were on backwards, I didn't think the vet could've done anything else to save it.

 

I obviously didn't take any pics. I also had to pick up the head and body to put it in a plastic bag. Decapitated animals are scarier than roadkill, I'll tell you that.

[killa kali]

Question is.. How did you 'put it out of his misery' exactly?

[_Rob_]

If you'd want the same thing to happen to you in a similar situation then it was right.

[Kirsty]

If the bird was in pain and you did it quickly, then it was the right thing to do as it may not have recovered and keeping it alive would mean enduring further suffering.

 

This reminds me of only a few days ago, my cat caught a pigeon in my garden but it lived. It couldn't walk properly, had a gaping wound underneath and had a broken wing. I took it to the vet, who took it in free of charge because it was a wild animal. I only presume it was put to sleep because the nurse said birds often take a lot of rehabilitation and become too dependent on humans afterwards. I wouldn't have left it, even if they are only classed as vermin, but I couldn't have brought myself to do what you did.