Being Kind to Animals

Yesterday when I was driving into the entrance to my sister and brother-in-law's property, I saw a snake ahead on the drive. This is a crushed rock driveway out in the country. It was a beautiful, small snake, and I was glad I had noticed it before I smashed over him accidentally.

Red-stripped ribbon snake

You can see from this photo I got off the web that it is a small snake and non-poisonous. I stopped and allowed him to move on across the driveway and into the woods.

I know there are many people out there who at the sight of a snake--any snake--would have just gone on and ran over it to kill it. But why? Why would someone purposely take the life of a critter who is not a threat to  and has its place in the eco system?

Also named Western ribbon snake

Living out in the country, I see dead animals along the roadsides all the time--baby fawns and older deer, rabbits, squirrels, all kinds of birds including beautiful cardinals and the lovely singing mockingbirds who are really bad about getting in the road, foxes including babies, racoons, possums, you name it--if it lives in the woods and makes the mistake of getting in the road, they get run down.

There are times when you absolutely cannot help but hit an animal if it runs out in front of you. You don't want to have a wreck or cause someone to rear end you, swerve to the other side of the road, or whatever and hurt yourself, but if it can be avoided, people should try to stop and not harm an animal.

It broke my heart this past spring to see more than one dead baby fox on the roadside. I know there are people who like to hit animals in the road on purpose for the sport of it. But what kind of sport is that?

Practicing kindness to the other species on this planet--as long as they are not threatening you directly -- shows a human compassion that would serve us all well. All life on this planet is interconnected and we share the planet--and its resources.