I come here to complain

Background: someone asked how to humanely euthanize their betta who has tumors.

but that IS what it comes down to: Do you support forcing - or even allowing - animals to suffer without end? If no, then you must support preventing and/or ending animal suffering. And sometimes that does mean treatment, but sometimes the only way the suffering ends is when the life ends. There are cases where nothing can be done, and the only future an animal has is one where they suffer. In this case, the absolute kindest thing anyone can do is prevent the animal from having to go through that, by ending the life swiftly and painlessly.

The antelope did not lie down and die because it has no concept of life or death, and it was not making a sapient choice for life but rather following instincts which dictate all of their behaviors. This is not the same thing as choice.

Most animals have no concept of their own death ahead of the time it occurs, at the very least not the human concept of death. Instead, they are alive, until they are not. They are aware of the former as an experience (they are experiencing life via seeing things, they are hearing things, they are feeling things, etc), and most of them cannot anticipate the latter before it happens. They are not aware of "life and non-life." They are not aware they are alive, and they are not aware that they will die someday. Most of them aren't even aware of The Self (some are, but most are not). These are human concepts you've assigned to an animal.

They cannot avoid something they have little to no concept of. Instead, they avoid pain. We have documented, scientific proof that animals avoid pain if they can anticipate it, and predators are something which brings pain. Showing pain is likely to bring more pain. Showing weakness brings pain. Animals limp to avoid experiencing more pain. They graze with their intestines hanging out because they are hungry (or because signals from the GI tract are messed up from this injury), and being hungry can cause pain or at least discomfort (hunger pangs), not because they are thinking "I have to eat to stay alive." (and just for the record, "not eating" is like the single most common thing sick or dying animals do. it's like a top tier "this animal does not feel well/is dying" symptom. some random video of an antelope that at this point could have been AI does not change thousands of years of this being a most common and prevalent symptom of animals being unwell/dying. this is how we KNOW that it's not connected to any thought about staying alive, or every sick/dying animal would be horking down food to live longer). Animals give up and lie down to die all the time, but they will attempt to avoid pain in practically every situation.

So we must assume that, if given a choice, animals would choose to avoid pain. Because we see that happening, over and over and over, across all animals we've studied that can feel pain. It's universal. They avoid it, if they can. This is hard wired into every animal with the nerves and functionality to experience pain. The whole reason pain exists is to learn to avoid it, because the things which cause it are usually bad and can cause injury or death. Avoiding pain leads to avoiding death, which can be mistaken as avoiding death, but it's not the same thing.

Its not the people who hit them. Pretty much ever.

Its me. And people like me. People who care enough to stop, on the way to work or in the middle of errands, to cradle this broken creature out of the reach of more voracious tires, and make sure that even though they cannot be saved their family has a chance to know what happened to them and bury them in one piece. People who have to wipe the fresh blood off their hands, shaking, and take the least distressing picture they can to post on local lost pet or neighborhood groups that they are gone, where they are, and you can contact me if you need to confirm.

When I am lucky, I get to deal in life and rescue a stray cat or lost dog from the highway instead. I've done that a lot. But there's always another dead cat. Sometimes dog, hair still fluffy and shiny. And you know what the common denominator is, nearly every single time I do hear from the owner?

They were outdoor cats or off-leash dogs. Almost always.

"Oh hes been fine off leash for years," well he was getting older.

"My cat just needs to be outside to be happy," well I pulled their damp, bloody fur away from the pavement and their spirits didnt seem high.

"Its always been ok before," that was due to chance and luck and skill and speed that even a single afternoon nap or bad day or speeding car can take away.

I could give you the statistics on the number of birds killed by cats in the US a year (over TWO BILLION, many endangered). I could give you the info on the way a single off-leash dog attack can traumatize even the best working dog for years, can take away people's service animals or turn their kids friendly pet to extreme reactive bombs. I could point out that the average lifespans of these animals are cut in half, that theyre at a hugely increased risk of disease and parasites, that they can CAUSE vehicular accidents (no one wants to hit Lassie), that they decimate other local wildlife.

But if none of that has ever made it click for you before that your dog can be just as happy on a long lead, or your cat inside with some levels to jump on and a tower, then let this be the thing that gets through to you:

The end of the line for your free roaming dog or cat is being crushed under oncoming traffic, by someone who will just keep driving. If theyre unlucky, death wont be instant - it will be painful and terrifying, far away from the people theyd look to for comfort. Their blood will pool on the pavement and dry in the afternoon sun, and only the rare few willing to shepard them to dignity in death will even stop and take pity.

I am tired of finding your mistakes and refusal to parent that which needs you to step up, littered on the highway. There is already so much grief in this world that is unavoidable, or at least could be in a better system, and I know you really truly do love them and thats WHY you've been doing what you think is best. But the data says that your animals free roaming are the surest way to hurt them, and to risk the lives of so many around them. And you have the choice, today, to decide if you want this end for them or a long and happy life.