Animal Stories

[UncleTim]

I don't know what happened after we left.


That kid wanted it.

[Iowa Dave]

That is the most interesting and craziest deer collision account I’ve ever heard. I’ve hit a couple myself and seen numerous deer car and deer truck collisions but I don’t believe anyone can top your experience. There have been occasions in Iowa where the buck deer came though a windshield and the antlers killed the driver or a passenger. You were very lucky.
Iowa Dave

[MyronL]

I had my brand new, right out the showroom '67 Dodge Charger two weeks when, on the 301 out of DC it came racing across the field on my left toward the road and bolted across me and then collided its neck with the driver side corner of my beautiful new car. I was doing 40-45 in traffic when it happened. The body then swung around and crunched the quarter panel. 50 yards down I pulled over to the shoulder, got out, totally confused, looked back to look-see the carcass in the road when - two guys in a station wagon jumped out, threw it in back, and took off.

You're right, Uncle Tim. You can't make this stuff up.

[arniesea]

Tim,

I had a similar experience but not nearly as bad. I was driving toward East Glacier from Helena, MT. Ahead of me a deer bounded across the road and was hit by the pickup truck in front of me. We were both going 60 or so. The deer pick herself up and stumbled into my car, her face hitting my windshield right in front of me. It was an awful sight to see the fear and pain in her eyes. I had slowed down enough that the impact did not damage the windshield, but did take out the driver's side mirror. In the center rearview I saw her continue down the embankment and jump over a fence, disappearing into the bush. I have no idea if she survived.

At the time I was a professional Transit operator for the city of Seattle. In hindsight, my training of maintaining a healthy following distance allowed me time to slow down and swerve so that it was a glancing blow rather than a direct hit. More than once, maintaining a healthy following distance has resulted in incidents that were close calls rather than accidents. I recommend it.

[ColoradoSwany]

Several years ago, I was driving my ‘94 Jetta at night in a mild snow storm just outside Estes Park and near my sister-in-law’s condo. Had the wife and mother-in-law with me. Due to conditions, I think I was driving 15-20 mph, when I suddenly noticed an eyeball roughly 6” from my head. All three of us screamed simultaneously. Turns out a deer ran into my driver side window and did an eyeball plant, then ran off. Sister-in-law said she saw a deer with a bloody nose near her condo a day or two after this. No idea if it had an eyepatch.

I had to clean eyeball goo off my window, put my mirror back in place and pull out a slight dent around the door handle. Oh, and I had some deer fur to remove, too.

[cpaharley2008]

Our first and only deer incident happened in the winter when I picked up my 4 year old daughter from daycare to bring home. The deer hit the passenger side and slid across the hood of the Firebird and off into the woods. My daughter announced when we got home that Daddy hit Rudolph and that Santa probably would not be coming that year......!

[Mike Lewis]

Regarding keeping small animals from chewing on your wiring: I just ordered some rodent repellent spray and some pouches of Fresh Cab, which I've used in the trailer. Honda makes a rodent-repellent tape for wiring (part #4019-2317) but I didn't order it this time. I saw an article that said many people who were letting their cars sit for days due to the pandemic were finding that squirrels and rats were destroying their cars' wiring.

After one of my long trips I had two large electrical appliances fail for no reason as they were unplugged while I was gone-- a drum scanner and my treadmill. The treadmill was giving an odd software error saying the track was elevated when it was not. I opened the cover of the treadmill and found some wires that had been chewed. A closer examination revealed a mummified rat tucked under the front roller of the treadmill. Ugh. After I make the repair I'm gonna spray those wires.

[sunrisetrucker]

Originally Posted by UncleTim

My neighbor came back from climbing a series of fourteeners (fourteen thousand foot tall peaks), only to find marmots had been all through car, his motor and chassis and ate all his electrical wiring and thru the clutch cable. He couldn't even turn it on. The clutch was pressed all the way in. Insurance totaled his truck and it had to be towed out of the San Juan mountains to the tune of $1,500 for the towing bill. I happened to be traveling thru that area that same week and stopped in to see it myself

Last January we were camping at the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument campground. We we first got there I noticed about half the vehicles had their hood open. After we got setup I asked around to find out what that was all about. It seems the desert rats love to crawl up under the hood and either chew the wiring or make nests. Leaving your hood open apparently discourages them. So that is what we did and I'm happy to say we stayed rat free.

After leaving there we headed of to Gilbert Ray Campground near Tucson Arizona. But before we left we had been warned that it was even worse at Gilbert Ray. My wife checked on Google to see if it was true. Yes it was and many people were recommending you put lights under your units to keep them away. So we stopped at Homedepot and picked up 4 strings of LED Christmas lights. They were normally $20 a box but since it was January they were 75% off. So the 4 boxes on cost us $20.

When we arrive at the campground it was quite late and dark. As we drove around trying to find the site we had reserved we noticed that again about half the units had their hood open but there was one difference. The underside of those same units were all lite up with a variety of different kinds of lights.

We left after almost 2 weeks of camping and we had no problem with rats. We thought that was $20 well spent.

[UncleTim]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Our first and only deer incident happened in the winter when I picked up my 4 year old daughter from daycare to bring home. The deer hit the passenger side and slid across the hood of the Firebird and off into the woods. My daughter announced when we got home that Daddy hit Rudolph and that Santa probably would not be coming that year......!

My guess is Daddy bought lots of presents that year and Rudolph lived to fly another day.

[cpaharley2008]

Finally, some good news:
A Canadian conservation officer, who was fired after he refused an order to shoot two black bear cubs, recently won a court case against the British Columbia Ministry of Environment.

After years of fighting his termination in the provincial courts, the British Columbia court of appeals has finally ruled in his favor. Despite the ruling not officially reinstating him, Casavant feels a sense of “vindication” after his expensive and lengthy legal battle.

“I feel like the black clouds that have hung over my family for years are finally starting to part,” Casavant told the Guardian. “But the moment is bittersweet – my firing should have never happened in the first place. I kept fighting so that I could clear my name. I’ve long stood for public service, honour and integrity. It’s how I was raised and how I’ve raised my daughter.”

In 2015, Bryce Casavant was called to a mobile home park near Port Hardy, where a female black bear had been repeatedly raiding a freezer containing meat and salmon. Following the province’s guidelines, Casavant shot and killed the female bear, but because her two cubs hadn’t been seen causing any problems, he refused to shoot them. Believing that they could be rehabilitated, he took the little cubs to a veterinary hospital and they eventually were sent to a North Island Wildlife Recovery Association recovery center.

His decision to save the cubs, however, led to a suspension from duty, and he was later transferred out of the Conservation Officer Service.

“Bryce Casavant was following clear procedures when he decided to save these young bears,” said British Columbia Government and Service Employees’ Union president Stephanie Smith at the time of Casavant’s dismissal. “He showed compassion and exercised caution — all good traits for a conservation officer.”

The two sibling cubs that Casavant’s compassionate defiance saved have been released back into the wild.

[Dave Walter]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

...The treadmill was giving an odd software error saying the track was elevated when it was not. I opened the cover of the treadmill and found some wires that had been chewed. A closer examination revealed a mummified rat tucked under the front roller of the treadmill. Ugh. After I make the repair I'm gonna spray those wires.

So are you suggesting that the rat died from a heart attack while using your treadmill when you were away?

[Iowa Dave]

Originally Posted by Dave Walter

So are you suggesting that the rat died from a heart attack while using your treadmill when you were away?

One more good reason to stay away from one of those new fangled walking machines. If a treadmill can give a rat a heart attack, I’m not taking any chances.
Iowa Dave

[Greg A]

I'm waiting for Fred's CONGA RATS!

[richardr]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

Regarding keeping small animals from chewing on your wiring: I just ordered some rodent repellent spray and some pouches of Fresh Cab, which I've used in the trailer. Honda makes a rodent-repellent tape for wiring (part #4019-2317) but I didn't order it this time. I saw an article that said many people who were letting their cars sit for days due to the pandemic were finding that squirrels and rats were destroying their cars' wiring.

After one of my long trips I had two large electrical appliances fail for no reason as they were unplugged while I was gone-- a drum scanner and my treadmill. The treadmill was giving an odd software error saying the track was elevated when it was not. I opened the cover of the treadmill and found some wires that had been chewed. A closer examination revealed a mummified rat tucked under the front roller of the treadmill. Ugh. After I make the repair I'm gonna spray those wires.

We had a squirrel (we think) chew a hole in the radiator hose, the windshield washer hose and a couple of wires on our Tundra one very unexpectedly cold night last fall in Fredricksburg TX. I was able to get the truck fixed by a local mechanic who said he had fixed a number of Tundras. I now put mothballs in the engine compartment which may or may not help, but makes me feel better. I have also seen strobe lights you can buy for the engine compartment which are supposed to annoy the rodents so they don't nest.

[MendoMike]

Years ago, when we had a ranch in the Sacramento Valley, i went out to the barn, just as the sun was coming up, to feed the cats. As I was pouring food into their dish, I looked down, between my feet, to see who the impatient one was. I then realized that i didn't have a black cat with white stripes on it's back. The skunk looked up as to say "Want to make something of this?". Of course I didn't and we became friends. The cats let the skunk go first and it actually became friendly with our ranch dog. Unfortunately, I found "our" skunk down on the county road, one morning, a couple of years later.
ps- they're great mousers.

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by Dave Walter

So are you suggesting that the rat died from a heart attack while using your treadmill when you were away?

The treadmill was unplugged, so I guess the rat died of old age.

[Iowa Dave]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

The treadmill was unplugged, so I guess the rat died of old age.

Probably needed a workout after the insulation meal, turned the belt up too fast and had a heart attack ak ak.

[Mike G]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Finally, some good news:
A Canadian conservation officer, who was fired after he refused an order to shoot two black bear cubs, recently won a court case against the British Columbia Ministry of Environment.

After years of fighting his termination in the provincial courts, the British Columbia court of appeals has finally ruled in his favor. Despite the ruling not officially reinstating him, Casavant feels a sense of “vindication” after his expensive and lengthy legal battle.

“I feel like the black clouds that have hung over my family for years are finally starting to part,” Casavant told the Guardian. “But the moment is bittersweet – my firing should have never happened in the first place. I kept fighting so that I could clear my name. I’ve long stood for public service, honour and integrity. It’s how I was raised and how I’ve raised my daughter.”

In 2015, Bryce Casavant was called to a mobile home park near Port Hardy, where a female black bear had been repeatedly raiding a freezer containing meat and salmon. Following the province’s guidelines, Casavant shot and killed the female bear, but because her two cubs hadn’t been seen causing any problems, he refused to shoot them. Believing that they could be rehabilitated, he took the little cubs to a veterinary hospital and they eventually were sent to a North Island Wildlife Recovery Association recovery center.

His decision to save the cubs, however, led to a suspension from duty, and he was later transferred out of the Conservation Officer Service.

“Bryce Casavant was following clear procedures when he decided to save these young bears,” said British Columbia Government and Service Employees’ Union president Stephanie Smith at the time of Casavant’s dismissal. “He showed compassion and exercised caution — all good traits for a conservation officer.”

The two sibling cubs that Casavant’s compassionate defiance saved have been released back into the wild.

Black bear cubs matter!

[HarleyD]

And now in the US it is OK to shoot and kill bear cubs in their hibernation den!
So very wrong.

HarleyD

[h2owmn]

after the woman next to me at quartzite had this, i copied her. bought a length of dollar lights that come coiled up. left it in the coil and slide it on a piece of reflectix under the engine compartment. it blinks or lights up all night. in the morning, put it back in the sun. works great.