Sad. Hubby saw him alone for a few days in the same spot. Last night I emptied a black tub I use for toddler toys so he could bring him water this morning. Too bad the fellow passed overnight. I don't care to think about this but some of you might enjoy it. People out here use deceased livestock etc for yote hunting.....
That's very sad. So, are there other wild mustangs around you? I've only seen wild mustangs once out west. It was amazing. Kind of surreal, actually.
It's no fun watching animals suffer and die. Even as a hunter, we still have compassion for them. Was he sick, injured, just old?
yes, amazing to see! The picture is too small to see, but there are several of the herd in my avatar pic from last winter.
First off, my husband loves our pets and has compassion like you. He has passed up more than one doe when he spotted a fawn near by.... He said the horse looked old. We are not horse people but he has more experience with large animals (deer/elk). He said he was holding his rear leg up, we could not figure out if it was injured or he was resting. But being away from the herd was not a good sign. Also there are some crazy laws to protect them, that also include you cannot feed them. We actually could have been ticketed if caught trying to water him, but it was worth it and too late anyway. *if* he knew the horse was doomed and *if* he could have, yes he would have put it down sooner, but both were out of our reach.
It's never pleasant to watch. I have horse stories, deer stories, elk stories, ..even a rotten dog story. If I come across a situation that requires it, I try to end the suffering quickly.
I have to wonder if I haven't been told the whole story from him and that maybe the horse was worse off than he led on. But he is also compassionate to me about things like that. For all I know "someone" helped the poor fellow out last night.
" I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself." D.H. Lawrence Love that one. I guess the compassion and guilt are on us.
Life goes on, Nature runs its course. Including all of us. What is it in us that we feel the need to help out the suffering? Sets us apart from the animals, no? Don't feel bad about trying to help it out on its last hours. 99 will do the same thing around here with the feral cats. And whatever other animals wander through. Fox eat well when she knows they're around and a few years back, she fed a couple orphaned raccoon kits. At least they died with a full belly. While out for a walk once, at the cottage, she says "Oh look, a dog is coming our way." Nope, thats not a dog, its a coyote. "what does it want?" Us. As we walked past it, it retreated into the woods about 25' or so and just watched us go by. "I'm going to bring some scraps up to the road for it" (HOO BOY)
The carcass is still out there. I asked why it hasn't been eaten and was told its frozen solid. Mother Nature is indeed runner her course.
So the horse is still there. Not sure why its not totally gone from scavengers. Anyway, I saw this one today, looks young and the SAME color as the one that died. This makes me happy
That looks like a painting wildwest , just beautiful. I was raised on horses and miss being around them, they are so very expensive to maintain though. Thx for the beautiful photo.
I can understand the carcass idea. Since the animal has passed and was possibly sick there is no other use, why not use it to knock off the yotes. Turkey shoot I say