Life and Death

It is cool to see wildlife. We have a few fox in our neighborhood and they show up from time to time, trotting down the street. Tonight a raccoon ran across the street and right under my moving car. I only saw it as it scurried into the beam of my headlights and the unmistakable thud told me what the stilled and curled form revealed in the rear view mirror.

Needless to say I was shocked. By the time I thought to stop and check on the animal’s status I was half way down a freeway ramp. I realized that the blow might not have been immediately fatal and I determined to stop on the way back. I quickly began to consider what I would do if I found the animal dead or alive. Would the correct course of action present itself when the time came? If it was alive but injured, what would I do?

Returning from my evening appointment I retraced my steps expecting to see the animal on the ground. However as I rolled down the road I didn’t see it.  With a pair of headlights approaching in the rear view I couldn’t linger too long on the road. I doubled back, this time on the same side of the road where I hit the animal, and it wasn’t there. 

It was only about 45 minutes before I was able to return and I’m not sure if another citizen moved the animal or if it had crawled back into the wilderness. Back in the wilderness to heal or to die. The woods are right next to the road, and I was in Minneapolis.  One of my initial thoughts was how dumb the raccoon was to run right into the path of my car. Then a reoccurring thought modified my annoyance. The wild was there long before I or the car or the road ever were.