to kill or not to kill? that is the question.

[Diana]

I'm soon taking the train to the Eastcost where we rescued the Sparrow Hawk. Some days prior to that i passed a small bird on the road wich was injured. I had some minutes of pain and compassion for the suffering bird. I found a big stone and held it high above my head and smashed it down. I felt an immense relief afterwords.

A wildlife caretaker told me later that birds don't feel physical pain like we do...is that really true?

I can tell you this. I have always had an affinity with animals. And at times I can empathize, or meld with them in some way. (I am not a "new-ager" and have no idea why I am like this.) One particular instance addresses your question:

We found a lone baby bird (not brand new, but fully feathered) in the backyard not moving around. It looked stunned or as if it needed help. So we put it in a box and tried to feed it. It wouldn't eat, and I was worried about it. So that night I took it out of the box and laid down with it over my heart area (it just seemed like a good place to put it, and it hunkered down there and stayed). After about 45 minutes, my left shoulder developed a pain and it started to radiate down my arm. I thought it was because of the way my body was positioned, but I did not want to disturb the bird so I continued to lay there in spite of the pain. I finally put the little bird back in its box for the night.

The next morning it was dead. My partner told me it had a broken left wing (he didn't know about the pain in my left arm). When he told me that, I "knew" that the pain I felt was connected to the bird's broken wing. I hoped that I had actually taken some of its pain away and processed it myself. I don't really know. Perhaps it was just empathy.

So, I can't say for sure if birds feel pain the way we do. But certainly they feel pain.

I don't mean to make you feel badly about what you did. Just addressing the question. I never trust cavalier statements such as: Fish have no nervous system so they don't feel any pain. I feel they are justifications for taking life when it's not needed to do so.