To the Editor:

I know most of you will say, “It was unavoidable,” when asked why you ran over that animal with your car the other day. Yes, sometimes the occasional bunny or chipmunk will dart out as you’re making a turn, and that’s all she wrote. I can understand that. Accidents happen.

But a porcupine? 

A wild turkey?

These are slow-moving, good-sized animals. Hitting them is totally avoidable. 

Just today, Sept 5, 2019, I passed two dead porcupines on Beaverdam Road — on straightaways. Are you kidding me?

It sickens me to think that someone may have run over these gentle creatures intentionally.

And deer, geez! Pay attention to the crossing signs. Slow down. Look for their eyes at night. Deer are more active at certain times of the day — at dusk and dawn, and around midnight — so pay attention. And if you see one cross the road, stop, because it’s very likely more will follow.

Walking my dogs last summer, I found a freshly hit fawn in the ditch. I had watched them — the twins and their mama — along Thacher Park Road before, the big doe crossing first, her babies following, one at a time. So sad.

My Doberman mix, Cicely, was hit in front of our house a few years ago. That night while showering, I heard my screen door slam open. I knew Cicely had torn out to chase the neighbor’s dog off our lawn. I’d witnessed this before.

I grabbed some clothes and ran to the front porch. A man’s voice called up to me, “Do you have a dog?” They had stopped their vehicle when they saw her standing, weaving, next to the road.

I knew it was bad. In the headlights, I could see blood dripping from her nose. The man helped me load her 90-pound body into the back seat of my car. She was dead by the time I pulled into the Latham clinic.

I cannot fathom hitting someone’s pet and not stopping to check on it, to ask if anything could be done, to say “I’m sorry.”

I think most of us would benefit from driving more attentively, myself included. Music playing, late for school/work/an appointment, mind on something else, kids messing around in the back seat. All these things can distract us from the one thing we should be doing: focusing on what is in front of us. Please watch out for critters when driving. 

They live here, too.

Connie Filkins 

East Berne