Any time i see a dead animal i have two instincts. 1. Danger…death always instinctually produces a danger response in me. I think this was by design so that whole species wouldn’t die out by eating the same poisonous plant or walking into the same predator’s hunting ground willy nilly. 2. I want to recognize the animal for what it was, what was lost…a living breathing viable being with a personality and quirks and maybe offspring depending upon the age. I’m always fascinated by how similar to a living deer a dead deer looks, like maybe i could just rewind time and unhook it from where it was stuck on the fence or stop it from running in front of that car. It looks like i could just rewind time and change reality if i had happened upon it a moment earlier. The axis deer had so many healthy teeth and such fluffy ear hair. It looked so close to life. As an animal i instinctually fear death and so i don’t ever touch anything that i know to be dead. As a human it bothers me that the deer hung on the fence is still hung on the fence. However, i would have to touch death to remove it and lay it on the earth, which im not comfortable doing, so it remains. However much i want the bodies of these once beautiful living creatures to be at peace, my instinct towards self preservation will not let me touch deceased things for fear of bacteria, disease, parasites, and just juju. So for now i tell myself their spirit has gone elsewhere. That is at peace and for now it will have to be enough.