Friday, September 07, 2007

Sticky Mouse Traps are Inhumane

Today I took a call from one of the childrens people. She told me there was a mouse in the kitchen between the two meeting rooms that needed to be disposed of. I figured I could handle that. What I didn't know was that the trap the mouse was caught in was one of those sticky traps. I had never dealt with one of these before. I remember, as a child, seeing a dead mouse caught in one of the classic snapping mouse traps. It was pretty gruesome but it looked like he died in fairly quickly.

Today I see the mouse stuck on the glue trap. The first thing I notice is that he has shat all over it. I also saw mouse fur that had been ripped from its body as he rolled on while trying to free himself. Then I saw him shiver. "Holy crap!" I said. "He's still alive."

"He is?" said Cathy. "Oh god."

I knelt down for a closer look and saw that his tail was stuck to the trap while one of his back legs and one of his forepaws were stuck. His limbs were twisted from his overnight struggles. I lifted the little fella's cardboard glue-covered tortured chamber into a plastic grocery bag and took him outside. I felt horrible and thought maybe I could get him off. I tried to pry his limbs off with a stick and his screams made me stop. I tied off the bag and put him next to a dumpster. Should I go out there and crush him with a brick or let him die his own agonized death?

Mens bathroom antics

A blogger visits the bathroom Senator Craig got busted in and takes a picture . Hilarious.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you ever seen a cat kill a mouse? It makes those glue traps look like a tickle fight. Nature is inhumane. That mouse should not die in vain. Spread the word, henceforth you will be known as Edward-vermin friend. And yes, I would have stomped on the mouse and ended it's suffering.

Anonymous said...

You know how I feel about killing anything. But in your position I would have also killed the mouse quickly. Then I would make it my task to do away with any of those sticky traps that I see around.

Sorry you had to go through that. Much more sorry for the mouse.

Libertine said...

A little bit of vegetable oil or baby oil applied to the stuck areas would have freed the mouse.