Excerpt on Euthanasia from The Amber Spyglass Chapter 21

amber_spyglass_chapter_21_euthanasia.txt

  Before long they had reached the edge of the settlement and made their way
beside a sluggish stream through bare-twigged scrubby bushes. Occasionally
they would hear a harsh croak or a splash as some amphibian was disturbed, but
the only creature they saw was a toad as big as Will’s foot, which could only
flop in a pain-filled sideways heave as if it were horribly injured. It lay
across the path, trying to move out of the way and looking at them as if it
knew they meant to hurt it.
  “It would be merciful to kill it,” said Tialys.
  “How do you know?” said Lyra. “It might still like being alive, in spite of
everything.”
  “If we killed it, we’d be taking it with us,” said Will. “It wants to stay
here. I’ve killed enough living things. Even a filthy stagnant pool might be
better than being dead.”
  “But if it’s in pain?” said Tialys.
  “If it could tell us, we’d know. But since it can’t, I’m not going to kill
it. That would be considering our feelings rather than the toad’s.”