Dogs/cats Getting Run Over By Cars

[CarlBkk]

I'm genuinely interested to hear ideas of what people have done and would think of doing when witnessing this scene.

My Thai friend, on her way to work yesterday morning in Bangna, heard a dog screeching along the road and saw it lying in the road trying to move. It was apparently a large stray that had been hit or run over by a car which carried on going, and the taxi behind (with passenger) had stopped. Cars were sounding horns and the taxi driver couldn't actually see the dog as it was close to the bumper...but he guessed to go round it. Instead he went over the dog a second time and it was then going crazy as you'd imagine. The taxi carried on (as you might expect) and my friend, as she was leaving in a car, saw the dog manage to drag itself to the pavement still howling.

I felt pretty sick when being told this story but quickly reaslised I wouldn't know what the hel_l to do apart from try and protect an injured animal from passing cars (and probably get mad with the careless taxi driver...reminds me of a similar incident in Chiang Rai when a minibus driver slowed down for a dog but didn't stop...assumed it was out of the way, but it wasn't. No expression of sorrow or guilt...just blank). I'd be scared that an injured dog would bite a person trying to pick it up. Would a vet actually come out to see to an animal? I just don't think I could walk away and leave an animal screech and suffer until death if I saw it happen, and I wouldn't think twice about stumping up a couple of thousand baht to a vet IF I knew one would come out.

Anyone with similar experience to my friend? What did you do?

[Scott]

This is very sad. Actually, I find that people here are quite careful. Killing a dog or cat brings with it bad Karma. I often see people slow way down and swerve. The difficulty is that so many dogs have gotten used to cars stopping for them that they assume they all will and then someone comes by who isn't paying attention and it's sad.

What is even more sad is that if you take it to the vet, they won't put it down.

[girlx]

ugh that's horrible. i don't know what i would do either as i would be afraid the dog would bite me in it's pain. i have seen twice in thailand people run over dogs and just keep driving like nothing happened. one of them happened to be my pet! luckily he ended up being ok. it sucks to be a dog in thailand though, for sure. in the US we definitely take more care.

[Pushit]

Keep your pets' at home or walk them on a leash, if you let them out free to roam the streets what do you expect? Soi dogs' are on their own, unless you adopt them. Drivers here have no conscience about driving over an animal without stopping so keep Fido off the streets.

[technocracy]

This is very sad. Actually, I find that people here are quite careful. Killing a dog or cat brings with it bad Karma. I often see people slow way down and swerve. The difficulty is that so many dogs have gotten used to cars stopping for them that they assume they all will and then someone comes by who isn't paying attention and it's sad.

What is even more sad is that if you take it to the vet, they won't put it down.

It depends on the situation - as it does in any country - unfortunately if your swerving just to avoid a cat or dog endangers pedestrians or maybe cause an accident then you just have to run it down regardless, the animal shouldn't be on the road in the first place.

If you do give something a fair whack the most humane thing you can do is to make sure it's dead - reverse over it whatever, as taking to a vet in most situations is pointless. A cat or dog with a large amount of broken bones isn't going to survive whatever they do.

Sad but true.

[girlx]

where i live all the dogs roam freely in the streets. so the drivers really need to take care, not just for the dogs' sakes but for their own. it's good advice to say keep your pets in but it's just not like that here. nobody has "yards", there are no leashes, etc.

[Khonwan]

Ask yourself what you would do were it a rat? Then act in the same way.

[Skyline]

Khonwan gets my vote for idiotic post of the day!

[kmart]

Ask yourself what you would do were it a rat? Then act in the same way.

Perhaps your "rat" is like a family member; displays loyalty, and all the traits that you would admire in another human being; protects your home from burglars, snakes, etc. - Regardless to its own detriment? Maybe you have a rat that greets you daily like a long-lost friend when you come home from work after a bad day. And actually means it?

Hope no-one ever drives over your rat. Pillock.

[Khonwan]

Flame away as you wish. Who is to say the dog was a pet to anyone. Thailand is full of strays. Is a dog's pain greater or more important than a rat's?

I didn't say you shouldn't stop to help the dog - you certainly should if you would do so also for a rat. Personally, I would (and have) drive on. As I would do if I hit a rat.

[kmart]

Flame away as you wish. Who is to say the dog was a pet to anyone. Thailand is full of strays. Is a dog's pain greater or more important than a rat's?

I didn't say you shouldn't stop to help the dog - you certainly should if you would do so also for a rat. Personally, I would (and have) drive on. As I would do if I hit a rat.

You're a wonderful human being. Bet you're driving on to somewhere / someone that deserves you.

[lardy]

Ask yourself what you would do were it a rat? Then act in the same way.

Millions of people kill flies on their windscreens everyday and dont give it a second thought, try and think like this. These dogs are a dangerous and unecessary menace its sad because its not the dogs fault its the Thai societie's.

I too saw a dog hit then crawl on just its front legs howling, its stomach churning to see and if I had a gun Id shoot it dead quickly. What can you do? in reality very very little.

[lardy]

Ask yourself what you would do were it a rat? Then act in the same way.

Perhaps your "rat" is like a family member; displays loyalty, and all the traits that you would admire in another human being; protects your home from burglars, snakes, etc. - Regardless to its own detriment? Maybe you have a rat that greets you daily like a long-lost friend when you come home from work after a bad day. And actually means it?

Hope no-one ever drives over your rat. Pillock.

If you loved your rat would you let it out to roam the streets? or is your rat specially trained to cross roads?

[the highlander]

To think that most Thais that hit a dog would worry about Karma are being naive in the extreme!!

Most Thais do not live by most/ any Buddhist principles unless it suits them!!

Khownans comments are beneath contempt however to put an injured animal out of its misery is usually the kindest thing to do!!

[lardy]

where i live all the dogs roam freely in the streets. so the drivers really need to take care, not just for the dogs' sakes but for their own. it's good advice to say keep your pets in but it's just not like that here. nobody has "yards", there are no leashes, etc.

Yes some of them do have yards and its their choice to not use leashes and their choice to let the dogs roam freely. You can easily make a leash after all many of the cows have one on them.

[Khonwan]

People are irrationally emotionally attached to dogs and cats, attaching a greater importance to their lives simply because of their perceived attachment to humans. Many of these same people think nothing of killing a snake found in their garden. Is the snake's life worth less simply because it doesn't cuddle-up nicely to us? This attitude is simply based on emotion - it has no substance. Personally, I almost always catch the snake (no matter how dangerous) and relocate it a short distance away. On the other hand, I have no problem killing it when I conclude it is likely to come back and cause me economic loss (to chickens, etc).

I wouldn't needlessly inflict harm to any creature, never mind a dog, but neither would I shed any tears over the loss of yet another stray dog (and if it is on the road, it certainly is stray - even if a pet).

If you care, keep your dogs secure. Don't let them loose to become a nuisance if you don't want them to be treated as such.

But I already know that I'm wasting my time on irrational-emotional attached and fully expect your condemnation. I can live with that.

The OP was not in the form of a statement - it requested views. This is my view whether popular or not.

[TopDogger]

I didn't say you shouldn't stop to help the dog - you certainly should if you would do so also for a rat. Personally, I would (and have) drive on. As I would do if I hit a rat.

I think it all depends on how fast your going, 100+ and your likely going to kill it with the first hit. Any slower and your aswell reversing back over it to put it outa its misery.

[the highlander]

People are irrationally emotionally attached to dogs and cats, attaching a greater importance to their lives simply because of their perceived attachment to humans. Many of these same people think nothing of killing a snake found in their garden. Is the snake's life worth less simply because it doesn't cuddle-up nicely to us? This attitude is simply based on emotion - it has no substance. Personally, I almost always catch the snake (no matter how dangerous) and relocate it a short distance away. On the other hand, I have no problem killing it when I conclude it is likely to come back and cause me economic loss (to chickens, etc).

I wouldn't needlessly inflict harm to any creature, never mind a dog, but neither would I shed any tears over the loss of yet another stray dog (and if it is on the road, it certainly is stray - even if a pet).

If you care, keep your dogs secure. Don't let them loose to become a nuisance if you don't want them to be treated as such.

But I already know that I'm wasting my time on irrational-emotional attached and fully expect your condemnation. I can live with that.

The OP was not in the form of a statement - it requested views. This is my view whether popular or not.

I fully agree with your sentiments but you know full well that to compare dogs to rats (which are vermin) is simply incendiary and designed to provoke flaming not add anything substantial!!

[Jefferson]

LOL...!

Come on.. a street dog. What do you honestly think he should do? Stop? Come ON.. Get real.. or get home where people like to whine about such things.

Christ, last week I saw an accident with brains and skin and body parts of a PERSON splattered across the road.. That made me ponder for a bit indeed, but a dog? Come on, they're indeed like rats, but bigger.

[the highlander]

LOL...!

Come on.. a street dog. What do you honestly think he should do? Stop? Come ON.. Get real.. or get home where people like to whine about such things.

Christ, last week I saw an accident with brains and skin and body parts of a PERSON splattered across the road.. That made me ponder for a bit indeed, but a dog? Come on, they're indeed like rats, but bigger.

You are a sad sad person and I really pity you!!!

It speaks volumes about you that you think you are above helping an injured animal regardless of its species and even worse you think everyone should be like you!!!

I am not asking for every one to mourn the loss of a soi dog but to advocate the increase of the animals suffering because you cannot be bothered is sick!!

[Khonwan]

I fully agree with your sentiments but you know full well that to compare dogs to rats (which are vermin) is simply incendiary and designed to provoke flaming not add anything substantial!!

Yes, I did deliberately choose a rat BECAUSE people see it as vermin. This to shock readers into a deeper reflection. Is it vermin? What does this really mean? It is vermin to we humans. When you really consider reality, which species causes more damage to the natural world - rats or humans? I think I can presume to know what an honest reply to this question should be. So are we therefore more vermin than rats? It seems perhaps "Mother Nature" should think so. Despite that truth, I would certainly give all assistance to a fellow human.

Stray dogs are actually just as much vermin as rats.

If you feel compelled to help the dog, feel compelled to help the rat also...or the snake, etc. Don't hypocritically base your response on your emotional attachment to the idea of "man's best friend". Personally, I find it disgusting to see folks spending more on their dog's daily food than an average Thai earns to feed his kids.

Remove the emotion and really compare your (I'm directing this at the general reader) attitude towards dogs in a rational comparison to your attitudes towards your fellow humans and other creatures. Don't elevate dogs simply because dogs like us.

[the highlander]

I fully agree with your sentiments but you know full well that to compare dogs to rats (which are vermin) is simply incendiary and designed to provoke flaming not add anything substantial!!

Yes, I did deliberately choose a rat BECAUSE people see it as vermin. This to shock readers into a deeper reflection. Is it vermin? What does this really mean? It is vermin to we humans. When you really consider reality, which species causes more damage to the natural world - rats or humans? I think I can presume to know what an honest reply to this question should be. So are we therefore more vermin than rats? It seems perhaps "Mother Nature" should think so. Despite that truth, I would certainly give all assistance to a fellow human.

Stray dogs are actually just as much vermin as rats.

If you feel compelled to help the dog, feel compelled to help the rat also...or the snake, etc. Don't hypocritically base your response on your emotional attachment to the idea of "man's best friend". Personally, I find it disgusting to see folks spending more on their dog's daily food than an average Thai earns to feed his kids.

Remove the emotion and really compare your (I'm directing this at the general reader) attitude towards dogs in a rational comparison to your attitudes towards your fellow humans and other creatures. Don't elevate dogs simply because dogs like us.

I am not commenting on the rights or wrongs of placing species on a scale of importance!

Personally I would not stand about and let a rat or any other animal suffer unnecessarily!

I probably would not be able to tell if a snake was in pain but I would not hesitate to dispatch it as quickly and painlessly as I could!!

Soi dogs are a pain in the butt but they reflect the attitudes of the humans that cast them out, not the dogs!!

Rats have spread the plague and continue to spread leptospirosis, and occur naturally in the environment!

Dogs do not!!

As for people spending more to feed their dogs than many families spend on food for their kids, simple If you cannot afford to have them then you should not!!

This applies to dogs or humans!!

Edited April 10, 2008 by the highlander

[Misplaced]

We adopted 2 HORRIBLY abused dogs and 1 kitten that was left behind by its mother. All three animals get along great, playful with each other and loving.

Would I stop to help an animal who in need of help? as much as I would stop and help ANY human being in need of my help. IT'S CALL COMPASSION. This world would be a better place if everyone has a little of it.

[Misplaced]

I'm genuinely interested to hear ideas of what people have done and would think of doing when witnessing this scene.

My Thai friend, on her way to work yesterday morning in Bangna, heard a dog screeching along the road and saw it lying in the road trying to move. It was apparently a large stray that had been hit or run over by a car which carried on going, and the taxi behind (with passenger) had stopped. Cars were sounding horns and the taxi driver couldn't actually see the dog as it was close to the bumper...but he guessed to go round it. Instead he went over the dog a second time and it was then going crazy as you'd imagine. The taxi carried on (as you might expect) and my friend, as she was leaving in a car, saw the dog manage to drag itself to the pavement still howling.

I felt pretty sick when being told this story but quickly reaslised I wouldn't know what the hel_l to do apart from try and protect an injured animal from passing cars (and probably get mad with the careless taxi driver...reminds me of a similar incident in Chiang Rai when a minibus driver slowed down for a dog but didn't stop...assumed it was out of the way, but it wasn't. No expression of sorrow or guilt...just blank). I'd be scared that an injured dog would bite a person trying to pick it up. Would a vet actually come out to see to an animal? I just don't think I could walk away and leave an animal screech and suffer until death if I saw it happen, and I wouldn't think twice about stumping up a couple of thousand baht to a vet IF I knew one would come out.

Anyone with similar experience to my friend? What did you do?

There should be more people like you in this world. Everyone need a friend including animals. Good for you!

[hanibal7]

Non of us would have to worry killing a soi dog if thailand introduced culling.This happens in greece with cats,yes the realy nice fluffy ones too.The cats kill the bugs,cockroches etc in the summer then many of them are humanley shot at theend of the tourist season.If culling didnt happen the areas would be like thailand with the dog issues.

Ilove dogs and cats but for the benefit of averybody,including the sick animals,then culling is the only answer.after that,the bitches need operations to stop them having more puppies.We started to take care of 4 kittens recently and the two females have had operations already.

[hanibal7]

Oops forgot to say,the males have had their nuts chopped too.

[Khonwan]

I am not commenting on the rights or wrongs of placing species on a scale of importance!

Personally I would not stand about and let a rat or any other animal suffer unnecessarily!

I probably would not be able to tell if a snake was in pain but I would not hesitate to dispatch it as quickly and painlessly as I could!!

Then we are both treating the dog in the same manner we would treat any animal - good!

Soi dogs are a pain in the butt but they reflect the attitudes of the humans that cast them out, not the dogs!!

Rats have spread the plague and continue to spread leptospirosis, and occur naturally in the environment! Sewer rats, yes, rats in the countryside, no! They are eaten by people upcountry because they are just as clean as any other wild animal (I've tried them myself - quite tasty).

Dogs do not!! Rabies? And that's not the only disease but I can't be bothered rummaging through my books.

As for people spending more to feed their dogs than many families spend on food for their kids, simple If you cannot afford to have them then you should not!! How about helping that unfortunate family rather than a dog? How about showing at least as much compassion to your fellow human as you do to an animal?

This applies to dogs or humans!!

My views have changed over the years, living on the edge of the jungle as I do. I see nature at work every day. My house is 2 metres from the boundary of the Great Western Forest Complex. Nature is not pretty. Living creatures meet their end in ways normally much more horrible than the dog dying as a result of being run over by a vehicle. They usually die being eaten alive by ants, or whatever. That has been nature's way for millions of years...it will continue to be for millions of years (unless we destroy nature first). Death is natural - I personally have no fear of it for myself. Suffering also forms part of the natural state - I personally tend to accept pain and deal with it internally rather than visit doctors and seek to mask it. The suffering and death of one dog pails into insignificance for me against the general picture seen every day.

But I'm not saying that you should not help the dog - you say you would help the rat too so I commend you for your even handedness.

[girlx]

Non of us would have to worry killing a soi dog if thailand introduced culling.

well i wouldn't say culling, but spaying and neutering should be done. thailand has a serious problem with stray dogs.

[CarlBkk]

Well I'd like to think my views on caring about suffering creatures is normal in western society, but a few posters above have saddened me. I'm not a dog-lover, I'm not a rat-lover either, but more often than not cars that go over rats kill them outright. A car going over a big dog twice doesn't kill it (at least not for a few hours or maybe days?). I wouldn't class stray animals as vermin....come on....they keep many a security guard happy. Seriously, the point is can you be a bystander and watch/hear an animal shriek as it suffers knowing that no doctor is going to be handy, no paramedics who know what they're doing on their way. This is a big animal with a lot of nerve endings and a relatively large brain.

I'm all for putting an animal out of its misery if it can't be saved, but will vets do that here for a stray? One poster says not.

To the posters who think that reversing back over a cat or dog will end its misery, think again. Unless you happen to drive over the skull, it won't. Did anyone see the news footage (from CCTV) in the UK where a builder accidentally drove over a pet cat on the drive, realised it was injured and then reversed/forwarded about 6 times? The cat still wasn't dead and the visuals stick with you for a long time. He went to prison I believe (his house also got a bit of a trashing). Us Westerners have a reputation here for treating animals kindly...one of the more redeeming things we're known for. I'd like to think that most of us can be bothered to get out of the car, feel bad, and do something about it. It's unlikely that a good samaritan will just come along with a syringe when you've left.

[the highlander]

I am not commenting on the rights or wrongs of placing species on a scale of importance!

Personally I would not stand about and let a rat or any other animal suffer unnecessarily!

I probably would not be able to tell if a snake was in pain but I would not hesitate to dispatch it as quickly and painlessly as I could!!

Then we are both treating the dog in the same manner we would treat any animal - good!

Soi dogs are a pain in the butt but they reflect the attitudes of the humans that cast them out, not the dogs!!

Rats have spread the plague and continue to spread leptospirosis, and occur naturally in the environment! Sewer rats, yes, rats in the countryside, no! They are eaten by people upcountry because they are just as clean as any other wild animal (I've tried them myself - quite tasty).

Dogs do not!! Rabies? And that's not the only disease but I can't be bothered rummaging through my books.

As for people spending more to feed their dogs than many families spend on food for their kids, simple If you cannot afford to have them then you should not!! How about helping that unfortunate family rather than a dog? How about showing at least as much compassion to your fellow human as you do to an animal?

This applies to dogs or humans!!

My views have changed over the years, living on the edge of the jungle as I do. I see nature at work every day. My house is 2 metres from the boundary of the Great Western Forest Complex. Nature is not pretty. Living creatures meet their end in ways normally much more horrible than the dog dying as a result of being run over by a vehicle. They usually die being eaten alive by ants, or whatever. That has been nature's way for millions of years...it will continue to be for millions of years (unless we destroy nature first). Death is natural - I personally have no fear of it for myself. Suffering also forms part of the natural state - I personally tend to accept pain and deal with it internally rather than visit doctors and seek to mask it. The suffering and death of one dog pails into insignificance for me against the general picture seen every day.

But I'm not saying that you should not help the dog - you say you would help the rat too so I commend you for your even handedness.

You are correct nature is a cruel and not usually pretty!!

Dogs are not nature , they have been domesticated by man over thousands of years!

As for feeding the Thai family people have choices, animals do not!!

I tend to believe that people should be responsible for their own actions, although I think I am a dying breed!

PS I am quite partial to a bit of Paddy rat myself!! Dog is a bit tough IMNSHO