This article will be hard for some to read. But some need to read it and slow down. This is a story from back in Virginia in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
I was taking some evening photographs when suddenly I hear car tires screeching to a stop and a small thud. As I was walking to the source of the noises, I hear a woman screaming. Not knowing what was happening, I greatly quickened my pace to see if my help was needed.
I arrived to see a car angled, driver and passenger doors open and a guy trying to calm a woman down. Its getting dark but I knew what happened since I saw the body of a fawn lying on the ground. I go the the people and ask if they're alright. I make a call to the park rangers, which, I've gotten to know a few of them already.
The driver was telling me how the deer popped out of nowhere (we are in a forest) and he wasn't going too fast (like I haven't heard that before). I explained to him that from what I heard and understanding things like people's habits, I believe he was driving too fast. I was gentle with the woman (passenger) and trying to let her know the fawn probably felt no pain - I wasn't so gentle with the driver.
When the park ranger arrived it was pretty dark. I told the ranger I checked the fawn as soon as I arrived incase I needed to put it out of its misery. The fawn was dead. The ranger surprised me with an interesting request.
She asked if I were a hunter and I explained that mostly I hunt with a camera now. She asked me to stick around until after dealing with the driver and passenger. I said sure.
After she was done and the people left (after getting a citation, good) the ranger asked me for that strange favor. Most people in the park are aware that there are warnings for a brain disease affecting deer. None hs been detected in the park yet but dead deer are checked for the disease.
Actually not the whole deer is taken for testing. Just the head. The ranger told me she could do it but gets squeamish so asked me to remove the fawn's head from the body. I am not including a picture of the "after" scene. I only show a picture of the dead fawn as a wakeup call to those who drive too fast.
So, I removed the head using a large knife and a saw. I placed the head into a large baggie and handed it back to the officer.
I could tell the story of a guy killing a dog, someone's pet, in a street in Cincinnati. That person swerved around me about 2 miles earlier. When seeing the dog, I got out to move it hoping some child wouldn't have to see their dog dead in the street. A passerby stopped me telling me the car that hit it. It was the same car that sped around me just miles earlier.
I spent the next several days driving every sidestreet hoping to find the driver. Looking back, it was good that I didn't find that driver.
So, people, SLOW DOWN.
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