Everyday I walk to and from school multiple times. A few days ago I was walking to my first class and observed, underneath a tree in front of the Tulane Campus, a dead squirrel. I stopped to look at it because I wanted to make sure it was dead in case there was a chance I could help it somehow. However, by the way that it was sprawled out on its stomach and staring at the ground, it was obviously dead. The most upsetting aspect of this experience was that the dead squirrel remained in the same spot for three days and disappeared only today. I have to ask myself what happened to the squirrel. Is there some organization that handles roadkill and dead animal bodies? And, if there is such a group, how are the bodies handled? I feel like it would be more ethical to leave the animal where it died rather than to dispose of it.
I feel like humans are constantly taking authority over what happens to animals. I think that it is great to help animals, but I don't think that humans should involve themselves in their world. Another experience that I had that further illustrates this point occurred over the summer in Audubon Park. I was walking when I saw a a group of ducks surround a smaller duck and attack it. I tried to walk away, but I felt too guilty. I chased the ducks away from the smaller duck. Later, I called a friend about it and she told me that they were mating and that it wasn't unusual.
The only time that humans should become involved in implementing some change in an animal's life is when humans, natural disaster, or any other similar problem causes the need for that change. For example, there was a group of juvenile elephants of different species that were taken away from their elders and put together by humans. These elephants began to kill the rhinos that were in the area. The problem was that the humans had removed the elder elephants from the equation. In order to fix the problem they simply brought an elder elephant into the group and the killings stopped.
I have seen many such squirrels, mice, lizards, cicadas, etc. on my walks in and around Audubon Park and my bike rides to and from school. And, yes, there are grounds keepers and Tulane and Loyola who pick up the road kill (for lack of a better descriptor). But I was most struck by the fact that you paused to check on the animal's well being. (I thought I was the only one who did that... that and I often pause simply to gaze at the carcass, like some science experiment or perhaps a revelation that nature continues to cycle as always.) You seem to have presented us with a kind of Catch 22: why not simply leave the dead squirrel to decay into compost? (Like, why do I have to pick up the dog poop and "preserve" it in a plastic bag, when it will just degrade quickly if left where it fell?) What does it mean, as one of your classmates posted above, to always control our "conditions"?
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