oh no! I'm a murderer!

[FoxHillGardener]

I've just got in from harvesting the last of Jerusalem artichokes. While I was at it I shoved the fork in and when I lifted it out I'd speared a toad right throught it's middle

Karma wil be after me now

[Nicos]

Oooooppppsssss

...well these things happen...If you had chooks you could have thrown it to them for a healthy supper!!!

A sad loss though

[janeyo]

What was the silly thing doing underground?

OH once accidentally killed a nest of robin eggs when he was prunig too late in the year, upset him for days.

[snohare]

You are not alone, Janeyo ! I remember well (as if it was yesterday) when on a conservation project - yes, that's right, helping to preserve the wildlife ! - I bisected a toad with a mattock.
I was surrounded by ardent greenie friends....who have never let me forget it. Not that I could anyway, I still have PTSD from the experience. (Post Toad Stress Disorder )
But in our defence, we can only say, they caught us on the hop.... sometimes even when you give life a chance, it doesn't have the sense to take it.
They do tend to lurk underground a lot, saves them from drying out and helps them survive the cold; they kind of hibernate in drains and such like holes.

[bobleponge]

Not that it will make you feel better FHG but I killed one too earlier this year.
There was a family of toads that used to congregate on my front porch of an evening, including the daddy of all toads, who was named "Lord Toad" in deference to his bulk.
With the arrival of dogs and cats etc they disappeared but made a reappearance this year.
I had no idea they had come back, and walked out of the front door one night in the dark, and.......
Splat. Stood right on one in my big KSB's and flattened him. I felt terrible. Still do.

[Stacey Steve]

I had mice visiting my greenhouse and left a couple of traps in there but killed a wren instead, won't be putting traps in there again.

[FoxHillGardener]

They're not the brightest of things are they? I've left them some nice upside down terracotta pots for them to lurk in and they decide to hang about with the JAs just where I want to stab my fork!

[Two_Sheds]

My mate Flymo'd a frog once ... he's never forgotten it
Terrible mess

[snohare]

I'll bet it was a memorable experience for the rest of the wildlife, too !

[Comfreyfan]

I aided in an assisted suicide once, a frog jumped out of the longer grass beside a fence and straight into the mower as I went past - very traumatic for both of us!

[Eco-Chic]

I've had to euthanise various chicks my cat and dogs have violently damaged

[lottie dolly]

it won't be long now before we start to hear the frogs calling from the waters edge,{our garden pond}then they will emerge from where ever they are hiding,

[allotmentlady]

sorry to hear that...........i did it last year and its reminded me, i felt awful for days, weeks in fact as he was a character on our plot,,,,,,dont feel too bad.

[snohare]

I would make a joke here about not having a pointless end, but....maybe it would be bad kharma.
As the frog said as the Flymo arrived, what comes around goes around.
It's funny though, how much we care about such small "insignificant" lives. I wonder, is it because we really do think of such creatures as being true innocents, or more because we just don't have the same day by day exposure to death that our ancestors did ?

[bobleponge]

It is a touch odd how affected we appear to be by animal death and suffering.
A few years ago I was driving back to my house in Aldershot with a mate, came round a corner and there had been an accident. We both got out the car, scenario was a girl had smacked a deer, and someone had then shunted the girls car up the jacksie. There were maybe half a dozen cars stopped, with all the people out of their cars putting blankets etc on the deer, with nobody even looking at the girl who had had the accident.
I spoke to the young girl who was clearly in shock, and she just burst into tears (I often have this affect on women), but was a lot better after someone had taken the time to speak to her and reassure her it wasnt her fault etc. At the same time my mate spoke to the driver of the second car.
After ensuring the driver was ok, I wandered across and quickly checked the deer, its eyes were open but it had died, picked it up and moved it out of the road.
The looks I received were indescribable, I had clearly just carried out the most heinous crime imaginable, but not one of them had even looked at the human beings involved in the accident.
Strange breed us Brits.
Said deer *did* make its way to my mates house in the boot, was butchered and split between 3 people. I lived like a king for ages.