kill or non-kill trap for a mouse?

Post Reply New Topic

hm i cant really vote, i hate killing animals and i dont think i ever have ( i had to humaley euthenize i baby hedgehog before at a vet) but i know that many mice will die from starvation, cold, or predators if you release them in the wild, so a humane mouse trap that kills instantly is better than them being taken from their home and dying. However i dont like killing animals, so when i found out i had mice in my house i got a cat instead, and she does her job, the mice are no where to be seen and they probably live in the walls (which may not be healthy but whatever, at least they have a place to stay for the winter and dont bother me or touch my food)

The only reason for mice is so that the snakes and birds (such as hawks and owls) and various animals (cats, coyotes, foxes, bobcats, ...) have something to eat.

We obviously have more mice than we need to feed

Warning: Extremely Pragmatic Reply.

On the surface, both options have their flaws / merits, and in an ideal world the average person should be able choose either one without too much deliberation. Under the surface however, things become significantly less arbitrary.

First off, as a human being, you have large number of responsibilities to consider when dealing with a mouse in your house.

The mouse has (unknowingly) entered an extremely toxic environment.

Our food, most of which is comfort food, will be unfit for animal consumption, will pose numerous health risks, and cause addiction in mice.

The diseases that we carry, the materials our environment is made from, and the products we use to both maintain it and ourselves, can prove extremely life threatening to mice.

You can tell how long a mouse has inhabited a home by how poorly it looks. The life of a house mouse is one of pain and suffering.

You might be tempted to think that in releasing it into the wild you are in fact doing it a favor. Sadly that is not the case.

Removed from the foods they had been addicted to, most of these mice will suffer long through the effects of withdrawal as they slowly starve to death. Though depending on the time of year, they may be fortunate enough to freeze to death before they even start showing signs of withdrawal.

On the slimmest of slim chances that these former house mice do adapt to their new environment, the sheer number of diseases that they're likely to have acquired, will not only prove to be their own undoing, but the undoing of all other mice that come into contact with them.

Then of course there's the obvious health risks that these mice pose to the natural predators of mice. I wonder just how many majestic and noble owls have been laid low, and undone by someone who thought it would be cool to let the mouse go.

Listen to me people, as I've said before, I've no love for animals, and my love for humanity is infinitely boundless. To the point where I would gladly strangle a thousand kittens, if God himself appeared before me and said it'd save someones life some day.

In equal stride, I have no ill will towards animals either, and the idea of releasing mice back into the local wildlife where their potential to wreak havoc would be wholly catastrophic, would be in my opinion unconscionable.

TL:DR

In short. Do the right thing and put the mouse out of it's misery, potentially saving hundreds of lives in the process, and taking up as little of your precious free time as possible. Of course, had you simply taken more preemptive measures in mouse proofing your home in the first place, then this would never have been an issue in the first place. Because of you a precious life was lost that didn't need to be taken, but at least you fulfilled your responsibility to the mouse, and killed it before hundreds more had to be lost.