Killing animals

[Guest Guest]

Our family has some bird houses, and yesterday my dad was taking down the houses and cleaning them out. One of the things he would do is take nests out of the birdhouses. Unfortunately, one of the nests had two small birds in it. These two birds were young, and I'm pretty sure they couldn't fly. I thought the best thing to do would be to kill the two young birds to avoid any unnecessary suffering, so I did.

Did I do the right thing? I suppose I could have just left the two birds alone, but that didn't seem right. Maybe they would have survived, but I doubt it. They probably would have scampered around until they either starved or were eaten by a dog or something. I suppose I could have stuck the nest back into the house but I don't know. Did I sin by killing the two birds?

[Pio Nono]

JMJ
8/11 - St. Clare of Assisi

Euthanizing (mercy-killing) of animals is fine, so long as there is good reason to do it. For instance, we shoot horses after they break their legs, since healing is sketchy, costly and takes a long time. Little birds would likely die without their nest, and once touched will never be received by their mother again. Euthanizing them seems OK in this situation. Hope this helps.

Yours,
Pio Nono