student's turtle project takes dark twist

[Ernie S.]

What about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?

No sane person needs a large capacity Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

 

[Ernie S.]

College student's turtle project takes dark twist - Yahoo! News

CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Clemson University student Nathan Weaver set out to determine how to help turtles cross the road. He ended up getting a glimpse into the dark souls of some humans.

Weaver put a realistic rubber turtle in the middle of a lane on a busy road near campus. Then he got out of the way and watched over the next hour as seven drivers swerved and deliberately ran over the animal. Several more apparently tried to hit it but missed...

The number of box turtles is in slow decline, and one big reason is that many wind up as roadkill while crossing the asphalt, a slow-and-steady trip that can take several minutes.

Sometimes humans feel a need to prove they are the dominant species on this planet by taking a two-ton metal vehicle and squishing a defenseless creature under the tires, said Hal Herzog, a Western Carolina University psychology professor.

"They aren't thinking, really. It is not something people think about. It just seems fun at the time," Herzog said. "It is the dark side of human nature."

We often stop to (safely!) move turtles of the road and have taken about a gazillion to our vet. Killing such a defenseless and benign creature sure as hell would not make me feel "dominant". Indeed, it would make me feel just the opposite.

Many years ago, when I still fished, I saw a fisherman hook a turtle, cut off his head and throw the body back in the water.

While living in Tucson, I remember seeing a pickup swerve to the other lane in order to hit a family of tiny quail chicks and their parents.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef6Ggl1-MAw]Gambel's Quail chicks emerge from their nest - YouTube[/ame]

What do others think about this?

I think you've wasted 2 minutes of my life that I'll never get back.

 

[tjvh]

Not that the froot loops want to FACTS here but, IMO, more people swerve to miss animals in the road than swerve to hit them.

AND, try not to be tooo shocked but, if I have the choice to endanger myself and my passengers or hit the animal, I will hit the animal.

in response to highlight above ^: I believe that is the ONLY thing you have ever said that actually has an ounce of rational thought behind it... Bravo!!!!

 

[Pogo]

College student's turtle project takes dark twist - Yahoo! News

CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Clemson University student Nathan Weaver set out to determine how to help turtles cross the road. He ended up getting a glimpse into the dark souls of some humans.

Weaver put a realistic rubber turtle in the middle of a lane on a busy road near campus. Then he got out of the way and watched over the next hour as seven drivers swerved and deliberately ran over the animal. Several more apparently tried to hit it but missed...

The number of box turtles is in slow decline, and one big reason is that many wind up as roadkill while crossing the asphalt, a slow-and-steady trip that can take several minutes.

Sometimes humans feel a need to prove they are the dominant species on this planet by taking a two-ton metal vehicle and squishing a defenseless creature under the tires, said Hal Herzog, a Western Carolina University psychology professor.

"They aren't thinking, really. It is not something people think about. It just seems fun at the time," Herzog said. "It is the dark side of human nature."

We often stop to (safely!) move turtles of the road and have taken about a gazillion to our vet. Killing such a defenseless and benign creature sure as hell would not make me feel "dominant". Indeed, it would make me feel just the opposite.

Many years ago, when I still fished, I saw a fisherman hook a turtle, cut off his head and throw the body back in the water.

While living in Tucson, I remember seeing a pickup swerve to the other lane in order to hit a family of tiny quail chicks and their parents.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef6Ggl1-MAw]Gambel's Quail chicks emerge from their nest - YouTube[/ame]

What do others think about this?

We are a perverse culture of death.

Not all of us of course, but in general we just have no respect for Life. We destroy habitats, dump poisons in the water and air, shoot each other, etc etc, all part of the same cloth. Probably has a lot to do with Christianity, the worship of everything that is dead.

I happen to love long-distance driving; I find it meditative. But when I see roadkill just left to rot on the roadway I'm so sickened I want to give up my car and walk. I don't quite do it though. Because I'm a member of this culture of death.