Thursday, January 6, 2011

Ever seen a cow hit by an SUV?

Don't worry, I have no photos for this blog post. I figured I get that out there from the get go.
First, a wee bit of background. We live in suburbia in the 7th largest city in the US. Sadly this particular city has deep ties to it's Podunk roots so we still have no fine cuisine and a plethora of cows, goats, and redneck morons well within city limits. There are 2 loops that run through San Antonio, and inner (410) and an outer (1604), we live just outside of the 1604. Freeways in Texas have these things called access roads. They're basically 2-3 lane roads that run parallel to the interstates in only the direction of that side of the road. So if you want to turn around you have to go under or over the freeway to do so. It's kinda like what Mega blocks are to Legos. If you can't handle driving on the freeway just take the access roads. Same thing just goes a bit slower. They're also what we fall back on when there's ice on the roads and they shut the interstates down. There's a reason for this back story, promise.

We live far enough out that our hood used to be a pretty damn large ranch. Basically what the rancher (who as I understand is a very hard man to deal with) did was sell all of his land except what boarded the 1604 to home builders. Excelent business move (barring the real estate crash which screwed him, hehe) since once all those homes were built there would be so many families there that the commercial real estate bordering the 1604 would then be worth a small fortune. In order to not have to pay insane taxes though the rancher has continued to live on the land he has left and keep a very small herd of cattle on it. Realize that the traffic here, while not city insane, is still considerably more than your normal ranch sees. Plus the access roads may not actually be freeway but people still haul ass on them. I know I do at least 50 when I get on them. Do you see where this is going?

We moved here at the end of 2006 and we don't see the cattle on the land that often and we have never seen one on the road. This evening me and the kid were on the way home from the grocery store and both of the access road lanes were closed off with at least 5 emergency vehicles all over the place blocking it off. We were shunted to the left turn lane (where I was turning left anyway, you know, where the ranch is) and of course we look over to see what idiot hadn't figured out how to drive (San Antonio drivers are worse than any I've ever seen, seriously). We then saw a cow (still alive) sitting down with it's legs tucked under it and a large rope of blood hanging out it's mouth. I have seen all kinds of animals hit by cars when I worked in a stream of vets offices as a vet tech. I mean I've had a Canadian goose that was hit by a truck (survived, I don't know how), a chinchilla hit by a car (survived briefly which was a miracle unto itself), and a multitude of dogs and cats hit by cars. I always found it disturbing to one degree or another as one would expect. This though, wow. I don't know if it's the pregnancy hormones or just the fact that the animal is just so damn big but wow. That was freaking DISTURBING to see. I had to make an effort to not fall apart since I was, you know, driving. And you I'm not a large animal person. I've worked with horses and they're ok, I can handle them sorta but they still intimidate me. But cows, I've never touched one and never felt the need to. It's not like I've found them to be sweet adorable cuddly animals that break my heart to see hurt (like smashed kittens on the road, you know) but this was just awful. I think I'm going to have nightmares about this one and it wasn't even dead! I mean I don't know if they were going to have to put it down or not but she was 'with it' when we drove past. Damn I hope they at least shoot her up with some pain killers...muscle relaxers..some better living through chemistry. The SUV that hit here was oddly not totaled, not sure if it still ran though. Must not have been going as fast as I normally go on that road. I swear if I hit a cow in my Jeep I'd have rolled it a few times. I think I'll be going slower on that access road from now on....

PS if you're from San Antonio and get offended by the fact that I call it podunk you need to get out more. And yes, I am not from this city, I'm from a real city. SHOCKER. Don't expect you moronic comments to be posted, I just delete comments made by podunk rednecks.

1 comment:

Stephanie Harsh said...

I think I'd probably freak out if I hit an animal. And, yes, I swerve to avoid squirrels and birds.