Sitting shiva for a groundhog

I live out in the country.
I'm surrounded by farms and cornfields and animals of numerous kinds.
A few days ago, when my dad came over to mow my lawn, he said I have a woodchuck (or a groundhog or whatever) that's burrowing and doing potential damage to the insulation. (He's convinced that those creatures eat insulation off of water pipes.)
So, this afternoon, he came over to set a trap right at the edge of the burrow-hole.
I really wasn't comfortable with the idea, since I hate the thought of animals getting caught in those things. It's similar to a steel trap, with two sides that powerfully CLAMP onto the animal that triggers it.
Ouch.
Then he and mom left, instructing me to check the trap every so often.
This evening, shortly after I finished listening to Fab's radio show, I heard strange thumping sounds. It dawned on me that it might be an animal caught in the trap.
I went out to check....
And yes.
That's what it was.
A big groundhog was struggling fiercely, with one hind leg caught in the trap.
Poor guy.
I called dad, who said he'd be right over.
In the meantime, unsure of what to do while I waited, I sat there and kept an eye on the poor creature. He was going to die pretty soon, and he might have known that. He'd rest for awhile, breathing erratically, then he'd struggle with all his might, then he'd rest, then he'd struggle...
It was awful.
I wondered if perhaps he'd break loose, since it was just his hind leg that was caught. But no, he stayed clamped in there until mom and dad arrived. Dad brought his gun and immediately shot the groundhog.
I've never been that close to a gunshot before.
Damn, it was loud.

Then, after he was sure it was dead, he took the animal out of the trap. My neighbor came over to help (and to chat about all the animals HE's killed). The groundhog got thrown in the field across the road, dad and the neighbor talked for awhile, then everyone went home.
And here I am, blogging about it.