"I Too Am In Suburbia"

Two days ago, I discovered a dead pigeon outside of the building where I work. Either the building or the city has a potted plant next to the door for beautification purposes and the pigeon was lying right behind it. I didn't look to closely, but there were no obvious signs of injury, so I'm guessing the bird just settled down in the shady spot and passed away. At least, I hope so.

I do feel somewhat sad in situations like this even though I realize that they're natural and hardly uncommon. But when I come across a dead animal, I have a very definite gut reaction, in that my gut gets tight and I'm stuck between a desire to look away and an inability to do so. I'm not sure why this happens. Maybe it's the fact that it's unexpected and I never know how much carnage I'll end up seeing. Maybe it's related to something in my childhood; our cat Sheba would kill the occasional mouse and sometimes I'd come across the remains. Or going further back, maybe it's an instinct inherited from my distant ancestors who, upon coming across a dead creature, might well have become very concerned that whatever had killed it was still lurking around. Or possibly most likely, maybe I just don't like being reminded of my own mortality.

The strange thing is that I never have this reaction when I've had to deal with my own pets passing away. I certainly have a reaction; when our hamster Jinx died, I was upset to the point where it started to effect me physically. But we did make the decision to see her before we buried her. (The vet kindly wrapped her in a towel after he euthanized her, so there was the option not to.) Again, no tight gut or anything. It's possible that in these situations, I'm more prepared or too sad to have the usual reaction. Whatever the reason, I'm glad of it, because I think I needed the closure in that case.

Anyway, between the building owners and the town, the pigeon was taken away at some point. Which is good because there's a educational toy store two doors down from us and I imagine most kids would be pretty upset seeing a dead bird. And I'm not traumatized by it or anything. It never lasts more than a few seconds. It's just one of those things that gets me thinking, and that's what blogs are for, right? I do wonder how common it is for people to react like this when seeing a dead animal unexpectedly. Is it normal or is it just me?