Quote Originally Posted by lizbud View Post
I don't think it's fair to compare a wild deer, or even a horse in the same
way one treats a dog in this same circumstance.

A wild deer is wild & couldn't be transported easily to be put down.
A horse out on the range,or far from a Vets office can be treated or
euthanized by injection, if necessary.
A pet dog can be transported to a Vet or 24hr hospital, and put to sleep
with no pain & no trauma to the animal or the human. There are also pills
to help older,arthritic dogs & the animals owner would have plenty of time
to judge the health & welfare of his/her dog and plan accordingly.

To take an animal "out-back" & shoot it yourself is bizzare. Maybe people
did this 60 years ago, but that was then, & this is 2008.
Whilst I can understand why this is your opinion, I'm still not convinced about why a dog is different to any other animal. To me, a life is a life, whether it's that of a dog, cat, horse, human, parrot, bumble-bee, whatever. I don't think that some methods of death are more acceptable for one species than the other.

I think if it really was necessary a wild animal could be transported to a vet's clinic to be euthanised. But it causes far less stress to the animal to shoot it there and then than prolong its suffering for the same outcome.

I have seen a horse euthanised. It's not really as simple as doing so with a cat or dog. A horse is a large, powerful animal and needs a big shot. The poor animal was cast and scared out of its mind - a horse's instinct is to get up and run when it's afraid. It took a while for the drugs to take effect, time in which the poor creature was screaming and paddling the air. It was a harrowing experience. I wish they'd have shot him instead.

And whilst I agree that treatment is the option we pet lovers most like to choose, part of me does understand the reason why perhaps the animal should be humanely killed before it has to face a life of steadily progressive pain and nasty treatment. As pet owners will know, we all have a point with our ailing pets when we say, right, enough is enough. Rest assured had that pet been in the care of someone else, there'd be people who would have given up on it months back, and those that would still want to carry on pumping the animal with treatments. It's just a question of how much pain you can take in. Some people can't hack it.