What do you do when . . .

[creadinger]

According to people here, I think it happens surprisingly often although I don’t think it’s an animal as large as a groundhog in most cases. It has only happened once to me (see below) fortunately. The rabbits were ridiculous this year along the W&OD so I think they were a significant source of the carnage.

http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?2558-It-finally-happened…&highlight=finally+happened

[Certifried]

Other than swallowing a lot of gnats earlier in the year, the only other wildlife I’ve executed was a bird that got blendered in my front wheel. I would guess, other than making sure it was quick and as painless as possible, you’d want to make sure the trail was clear of the body.

[Dirt]

As an animal lover and a cyclist, the sheer volume of road kill I see are not easy to deal with. I’ve actually been the harbinger of death only a few times over the years. Fortunately it was quick and relatively painless for the poor buggers when I hit them. Doesn’t make it much easier to deal with though.

I don’t have a good solution for your “see it out” dilemma. I’ve never had to do that while riding since they had all passed by the time I got there.

Pete

[Rootchopper]

Well, there was that dead rat on the MVT at Gravelley Point this morning….

Once while driving to work on the GW Parkway I stopped to let a mother duck escort her ducklings across the road. A big black SUV swerved around me and wiped out mom and a couple of the babies. The rest went waddling in panic all over the place.

[creadinger]

You know how all of the smaller mammals seem to dart out across the trail as you ride past, and you wonder why they didn’t do it earlier when there were no bikes or cars that could smush them??

I have a theory about why they do this…. On a nice sunny day out on the western portions of the W&OD you can look up and see dozens of hawks soaring on thermals, and constantly circling as they look for their next meal. Smaller mammals are naturally afraid of hawks and other predators because they’ve been food for thousands of years. They have learned that hawks don’t mess with larger animals like humans and therefore I think they use the cover of a passing cyclist or car to cross open spaces and cross the trail. Obviously sometimes they don’t make it.

From the would-be-prey’s perspective though dying instantly by getting smushed by a tire may be preferable than being eaten by a hawk, which doesn’t usually care whether the prey is dead or not before they eat them.

[Terpfan]

@Rootchopper 34092 wrote:

Well, there was that dead rat on the MVT at Gravelley Point this morning….

Once while driving to work on the GW Parkway I stopped to let a mother duck escort her ducklings across the road. A big black SUV swerved around me and wiped out mom and a couple of the babies. The rest went waddling in panic all over the place.

Noticed that rat too over by the porta potties. All the dead ones there keep ending upside down with their feet straight out, it’s weird.

As for killing animals, I have killed far more birds driving a car than all the animals combined riding my bike. I think I may have killed a snake and a squirrel at various points, but on the grand scale I’m slow enough that they can usually get out of the way except for the daredevil ones. I worry only so much as they’re in the path and someone else may hit them.

[off2ride]

Saturday PM I was riding back to my car and while bombing downhill after Virginia Ave, I ran over a RAT then another one crossed after that. I went back to check to see if it survived but it was dead. At least I think it was. Then today I saw another dead rat on Custis while riding to DC. What’s up with this rat infestation? Last year it was Deer that was abundant in the trail. Now it’s rats?

[PeteD]

Been close a couple of times with some suicidal squirrels. Today’s ride had a cat dart out and quickly retreat, and another that sat down before crossing to watch me ride by. The biggest thing so far was a monarch butterfly on the W&OD that hit my right shoulder on the downhill from Vienna to Difficult Run.

[dasgeh]

Today I was riding with the 2 year old on a street, and there was a dead squirrel in the middle of the road. She pointed it out, and I explained that, yes, that’s a squirrel and it’s in heaven now. She asked about the squirrel 3 or 4 more times on the ride.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@dasgeh 34194 wrote:

Today I was riding with the 2 year old on a street, and there was a dead squirrel in the middle of the road. She pointed it out, and I explained that, yes, that’s a squirrel and it’s in heaven now. She asked about the squirrel 3 or 4 more times on the ride.

The first time my older daughter noticed a dead squirrel on a ride, she thought it was a stuffed monkey. She kept asking me to go back and get the monkey so we could find the little girl who lost it. I finally had to fess up on the grim reality.

A couple of days later at dinner she asked me if “chicken” was the same as “a chicken.” I said yes. Her: “Well that’s mean!” Not if you want to eat, I explained. “Oh.” And she proceeded to finish dinner.

[thucydides]

Ugh

[vvill]

@dasgeh 34194 wrote:

Today I was riding with the 2 year old on a street, and there was a dead squirrel in the middle of the road. She pointed it out, and I explained that, yes, that’s a squirrel and it’s in heaven now. She asked about the squirrel 3 or 4 more times on the ride.

I was riding with the 1 year old this afternoon and just as I decided to pedal a bit faster on a downhill for some fun, a squirrel darted out and we almost hit it. She was oblivious to the near miss and instead pointed it out and waved and said “bye” to it, as she did for every squirrel we spotted on the ride (probably 10 or so).

[pfunkallstar]

I killed a squirrel down by the reflecting pool….in front of an elementary school tour group. I felt like Stalin.

[Author]

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