I am thankful I own and am properly trained on how to use a firearm because I had to "put down" a pet this morning after it was brutally and gruesomely mauled by another's dog. Traveling to a vet would have been extremely torturous for the poor animal and a wasted effort. To have not done it because it was "hard" or "upsetting" would have been selfish.
I ended the intense suffering in mere seconds. When the warrior in me had finished doing what was tough, the nurturer in me returned & I cried into the phone to my husband for the life I ended. "That is always a tough circumstance. I am proud of you. I love you." Clint always knows the right thing to say.
This is part of having many animals on a farm. If you can't do what is responsible when they need you the most, please don't keep them. If you are too afraid or too squeamish to end their suffering, you don't deserve the joys they give either. I know some farmers who drag a suffering animal out of sight and let it lay there until it dies. This is a horribly cruel practice of the cowardly.
Taking a life is directly opposite of who I am. I am a nurturer and a healer (If someone/something is ailing, I do all I can to assist them to find better health through my experience and knowledge of herbal medicine.) Even knowing it was necessary, it cost me to end the animal's suffering.
