The Man Who Hit the Deer

The other night my mom and I were driving home and I saw a deer running on a church's lawn by the side of the road.  Because I saw it I was able to warn my mom who came to a stop before the deer leaped into the street.  However, a car coming in the opposite direction apparently didn't see the deer, either because it was dark or the driver was inattentive.  As best as I could tell, the car hit the deer just before it was completely out of the road.  At the very least, we heard something that sounded like glass breaking.  The car (I think it was actually more of an SUV) just kept going, not even slowing down.  When we got home I looked up the number for animal services in my county and I called the animal emergency number.  Apparently, they could only do something if I knew the deer was dead.  What an a$$-backwards policy.  At any rate, I asked her to give me a number I could call to help an injured animal.  It was the county police.  They at least accepted the information and said they would send someone out.  I don't know if anything ever came of it.

The reason I am posting this story is because I almost didn't make a call.  It is so easy to fall into the trap of thinking there is nothing you can do but agonize.  At the very least I let someone know that citizens in the county care about injured wildlife.  In addition, I now know of a flaw in the system that I can bring to my county rep.  Maybe what I did ultimately didn't have an effect.  But maybe someone went out, found the deer, and gave him some help.  We all have power to change the world, one little step at a time.