# So, I hit a dog yesterday.



## Epi-do (Nov 14, 2006)

I feel absolutely terrible about it!  We have this absolutely huge ambulance (it is affectionatly called the "Urban Assult Vehicle") and I was driving over to the training academy for EMS training.  A pickup in front of me turned right, into a neighborhood off of the main street we were on.  There was a car coming in the oncoming traffic lanes, and as soon as the pick up turned the corner, the dog darted out across the road.  I hit the brakes, but the dog was too close and the ambo was too big to stop that quickly.  That has to be one of the worst sounds I've ever heard.

My partner was great about handling all the radio traffic needed to notify the Bat. Chief, PD, and animal control.  He also talked to PD and animal control once they got to the scene, allowing me to hang out by the truck and cry for a few minutes without him right there.

And then the ribbing began.  You've just got to love firemen sometimes.  There was barking on the radio, hot dogs for lunch, and being called "dog killer" the rest of the shift.  The list goes on and on, but I am sure you get the point.  So, it did make me laugh and I wasn't feeling quite as bad about it as the day went on, but it still sucked.


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## premedtim (Nov 14, 2006)

Epi-do said:


> I feel absolutely terrible about it!  We have this absolutely huge ambulance (it is affectionatly called the "Urban Assult Vehicle") and I was driving over to the training academy for EMS training.  A pickup in front of me turned right, into a neighborhood off of the main street we were on.  There was a car coming in the oncoming traffic lanes, and as soon as the pick up turned the corner, the dog darted out across the road.  I hit the brakes, but the dog was too close and the ambo was too big to stop that quickly.  That has to be one of the worst sounds I've ever heard.
> 
> My partner was great about handling all the radio traffic needed to notify the Bat. Chief, PD, and animal control.  He also talked to PD and animal control once they got to the scene, allowing me to hang out by the truck and cry for a few minutes without him right there.
> 
> And then the ribbing began.  You've just got to love firemen sometimes.  There was barking on the radio, hot dogs for lunch, and being called "dog killer" the rest of the shift.  The list goes on and on, but I am sure you get the point.  So, it did make me laugh and I wasn't feeling quite as bad about it as the day went on, but it still sucked.



*comforts you* That's horrible, ugh.  well it doesn't sound like there was any way you could have avoided that, I hate it when stuff like that happens.


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## Celtictigeress (Nov 15, 2006)

Well dog gone!!!

Oh wait literally....

hun it happens seriously and there was nothing to avoid it..If it makes you feel better About 4weeks ago we had a ram come down the side towards the road and run right smack into our ambulance

I doubt theres anyone here that has not hit or will not hit an animal ....


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## akflightmedic (Nov 15, 2006)

Well, living in Florida for many years,

I have hit a turtle, actually several (they are huge in FL)
a wild boar
seagulls
chickens
squirrels
armadillos
Opossum
and killed a cat that had got up in the engine compartment..it wasnt pretty
and an ALLIGATOR--damn near flipped my truck, he was a big one

When I was in Alaska, a coworker hit a moose...not a pretty site as these beasts are HUGE!

No animals are safe from me...I will get one of every species!!

Hitting the chicken was most memorable as I recieved much teasing for it, because when I swerved to avoid them..they rushed out at me, I reacted before knowing what they were...I almost rolled the Blazer I was driving and I did flip the boat trailer and the rescue boat I was towing at the time. I even recieved a rubber chicken at the Xmas party.


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## Epi-do (Nov 15, 2006)

akflightmedic said:


> No animals are safe from me...I will get one of every species!!



Now, that is funny! :lol: And, I have heard stories about moose vs. any vehicle.  Did the moose give the ambulance a run for it's money?  I have heard of occassions where they actually win that contest if it is a small car.


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## gradygirl (Nov 15, 2006)

Unfortunately, moose vs. car almost always ends in the moose winning. The things are so darn tall, that when you hit them if you are driving a car, you essentially knee cap them, causing the entire mass of their bodies to fall onto the front of the car.

"Moose are also potentially dangerous when involved in automobile collisions. They are very large, long-legged and difficult to see under low light conditions (moose are most active at dusk and at night). Data collected from other states indicate that a moose/car collision is 30 times more likely to result in a human death than a deer/car collision. On the average, one out of 50 moose/car collisions results in a human fatality."

I've hit squirrels and a turtle, and though I tried not to hit the turtle, there wasn't anything I could do. Between me and my friends, squirrels are fair game. We call their habits of running into traffic "Poor Squirrel Decisions" or PSDs. 

I wasn't driving at the time, but cars I have been in have almost hit/been hit by elk and bison and we had a fairly scary near-brush with a bear once.


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## Jon (Nov 15, 2006)

Wow.. that sucks.

Around here the deer are big targets, and I've even seen the pictures of a fatal wreck with a decapitated goose in the windshield.

As for the FD's ribbing... it is great to have that relationship with your co-workers. In our field, we see a lot, so we tend to use humor as a coping mecanism, espicially "black" humor.


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## rescuecpt (Nov 15, 2006)

I was behind a car that swerved to avoid a squirrel - and ended up grinding the poor thing between the ground and the car's turning wheel...  since it wasn't my car it wasn't so bad until squirrel parts flew out from under the wheel and onto my windshield and hood.  Ewwww, bloody furry squirrel bits!


It's always sad when an animal dies, especially when it's so sudden and senseless.  I'm sorry you had to go through that.


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## c-spine (Nov 15, 2006)

I was on my way to go see a friend of mine a while back, and it was dark and I was on the phone... (no comment). A rabbit jumped out in front of me and I half-swerved to miss it and ended up hitting it anyway. It was a disgusting sound. freaked me out. I think I freaked out the person I was talking to... "omg...omg...omg...i hit it!! eew!!" they were like "omg...what the hell did you hit?!?!"

lol


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## premedtim (Nov 15, 2006)

Yeah I actually remember driving up the mountain in Ojai, California one time and a possum ran out in the middle of the road...I didn't swerve or anything because on a mountain road that's generally not a very good idea, anyway, I probably ran over it's head because of the sickening crunching sound like a globe of bone just got crushed inward but it was definitely a sound I could have gone without hearing. Better the animal than you though, right?


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## Anomalous (Nov 15, 2006)

rescuecpt said:


> bloody furry squirrel bits!




That sounds like a great name for a band...


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## c-spine (Nov 16, 2006)

Anomalous said:


> That sounds like a great name for a band...




LMAO!!   The things I hear on EMT Life... ^_^


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## JimH (Nov 17, 2006)

and being called "dog killer" the rest of the shift.  The list goes on and on, but I am sure you get the point.  So, it did make me laugh and I wasn't feeling quite as bad about it as the day went on, but it still sucked.[/QUOTE]

I think there's a special place in Hell for people like us, I managed to hit someone's pregnant show Chihuahua one morning, I was coming down a narrow winding street, and it strolls out about 5 feet in front of the unit looking up at me - it does suck-


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## jeepmedic (Nov 17, 2006)

I hit a deer a couple of weeks ago on the crash truck.

I hit a camel when I was in Iraq in 1991. they just stick there heads any where they want to.


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## Airwaygoddess (Nov 17, 2006)

My girl friend hit skunk with her rig!!!!  can you say pew! pew!!


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## mycrofft (Aug 8, 2008)

*My former coworker hit a couple on a code-3 run.*

They had fallen off their motorcycle due to ice on a big, long, steep old wooden railroad bridge, he came over the crest and nailed them in the Caddy, slid most of the way down the other side.
21 yrs old, newly married to a woman four years his senior with a kid. Cripes.


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## TheDoll (Aug 9, 2008)

akflightmedic said:


> No animals are safe from me...I will get one of every species!!



i'm not religious or anything, but you're, like, the opposite of noah.


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## daedalus (Aug 10, 2008)

Apparently dogs do not know meow how to yield the right meow away for emergency vehicles meow


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## NJN (Aug 10, 2008)

Meow why are you playing the cat game meow. Meow, this of all times. I remember meow, when it was safe for someone to post on this forum, meow you can't get around with out some meowing. Meow what has this world come to. 

On the subject, my partner once hit a bird with the front tire who was thrown into the side panel of another car, then it bounced back into the rig.


daedalus + me = combined score of 10 we win.


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## BossyCow (Aug 11, 2008)

I've hit so many deer that my friends wanted to get me a deer tag. 

Many years ago after hitting a dog on the way to work a friend bought me a button that read.. "My karma ran over my dogma"


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## emtlady76877 (Aug 12, 2008)

*if it will make you feel better your not the only one thats has killed a dog.*

I run on Monday nights with my husband as my driver a few years ago rpight in front of the house. There beatiful boardy coally ran in front the ambulance while we were on the way to the hospital. He felt so bad. Because We Know what it is like to lose a pet.


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## silvercat354726 (Aug 13, 2008)

I feel for you!  Since everyone has shared their stories of animal vs. car I am going to share mine.  I was on my way to base for a call in the middle of the night and I was making my way around a turn saw a "high butt" porcupine I didnt want to go into the other lane to avoid it bc I dont believe in that.  So I drive an Expedition thinking I could just straddle the damn thing and be on with it.  Well when I thought I had cleared the damn thing all of a sudden I hear thump thump under the car, I am guessing the thing decided to stretch and when it did it caught the underside of my car.  I totally forgot about it for three days and than me and my family were going some place and my oldest was sitting in the front (no airbags) in his seat and my husband was so kind to point it out to him.  I later told my husband about the incident.  Two days later my son goes to school and tells his teacher (which is an animal lover) that "mommy killed a porcupine!"  I didnt pick him up from school the rest of that week as I was embarrassed.  So I think we have all had our mishaps with all different types of animals.


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## katgrl2003 (Aug 14, 2008)

I've hit a dog, a cat, multiple squirrels, and my partner hit a deer.  I'm starting to feel like the animal angel of death.

-Kat


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## BossyCow (Aug 14, 2008)

The worst was a fluffy white pink eyed bunny. I really felt bad.. but was running code to a CPR In progress call.


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## RESQ_5_1 (Aug 14, 2008)

As far as moose vs. car/truck/vehicle, I will see if I can download the pics I got from a moose vs. GMC Sonoma last November. The truck was a total write off. The driver is lucky he wasn't decapitated (the moose, however, was). Driver was transported with severe facial lac (approx 6 cm), and a possible depression fracture of the frontal skull. I pulled on scene on my way to my shift. I was due on shift at 8 pm, and I came across this about 15 min east of my station at 7:30 pm. The moose was covered by snowfall 2 weeks later, and I saw it was still there this past May after all the snow had melted.

Hitting a moose at highway speed is about the same as hitting a stationary vehicle. We get calls for vehicle vs. moose all year round. we had 2 last week.


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## Oregon (Aug 20, 2008)

When I hit a deer on the way to a callout, it was twitching and suffering, so I had to get out and make sure it died quickly.
That wouldn't be such a big deal for the rest of my team, but I'm a Buddhist and a vegetarian so grabbing Bambi and doing the Rambo thing was a bit off putting.
I was also the only EMT with my team that day.
Half the team teased me about not bringing them the meat, while the other half teased me about not providing medical assistance to the deer.


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