[This post was inspired by Stephen Michael McDowell’s essay “insects* i’ve murdered”.]
ANIMALS I’VE SEEN DEAD
Food Animals
- Pig: I saw this pig during a Boy Scouts camp out. It was cooked whole. Its skin was black and cracked. It still had eyes and the other boys were pushing its eyes back into its head and then they’d slide back down.
- Cow: I was at a slaughterhouse. My family was buying half a cow. I only saw its skin. It was bloody and lying on the concrete outside.
- Chickens: I worked in the deli department of a Walmart. One of my jobs was to roast chickens. Before I cooked them, I had to pull some chicken bits out through its neck hole and saw off its tail bone. Then I poured the seasoning packets on them and put them on the rotisserie machine.
- Turkeys, ducks, geese, other birds: I’ve seen these cooked.
- Fish: I’ve seen lots of fish.
- Squid: I think I’ve seen squids at a restaurant.
Pets
- Cat: Our cat Moses died. He was old and just died. His body was all stiff when we found it.
- Hamster: My little brother’s hamster died. It had some kind of seizure one night. My little brother heard it die.
- Snake: My dad killed my little brother’s snake with a rock.
Roadkill
- Cats
- Dogs
- Birds
- Deer
- Possums
- Racoons
- Skunks
- Armadillos
- Turtles
- Squirrels
- Unknown animals
Other
- Deer: I saw a dead deer at a wolf sanctuary in Minnesota. They put it out there for the wolves and I watched them eat it. It was on a Boy Scouts trip.
- People: I’ve seen a few dead people.
ANIMALS I’VE KILLED
Bugs
- Ants: I’ve killed these with a magnifying glass.
- Spiders, wasps, bees: These are the scary ones. I’ve killed these with kleenex and stomping.
- Grasshoppers, crickets, rollie pollies, silverfish, unknown ground bugs: Mostly just stomping.
- Moths, flies, unknown flying bugs: I’ve smashed these with my hands and with other things.
- Other bugs: I had to collect bugs for a school project. I put out dishes of milk with sugar and bleach in them to poison the bugs. It didn’t work really.
Roadkill
- Duck/goose: It was standing on the highway and I couldn’t change lanes and I hit it was my grampa’s car. I think it died right away.
Other
- Slug: I killed some slugs with salt with my little brother.
- Snake: There was a snake on our lawn. Me and my dogs killed it. I had a rake.
