So for about a week now we have found signs of a mouse living around our kitchen. Westin was in charge of getting rid of it. His first idea was to buy the well known game by Milton Bradley, "Mouse Trap" (you all know what that is, right?) and use that to catch it. We ended up getting some actual mouse traps and Westin set a nice little piece of cheese with a smear of Peanut Butter. So tonight when we got home Westin checked the trap ('cause I wasn't about to look) and he realized that we had caught it. I think Westin thought he would feel a sense of victory because he kept talking about how he had caught a giant rat living in one of the apartments on his mission and how manly he was about the whole thing. But we were kind of sad tonight and although we would do it again in a heartbeat, we couldn't help but feel bad for the little guy... Here are some thoughts that we have had:
1- Is it cruel to give an innocent creature the hope of eating a delicious piece of cheese and peanut butter only to snap it's neck? I mean, it's not like some beast or pheasant you have to hunt and kill, it's a little mouse who just didn't know any better. That makes it sad.
2- Why is it we feel differently about killing a big fat ugly rat, than a small "cute" mouse?
3- Is it better to set a "non killing" trap and set the mouse free in the wild where it will most likely just get eaten by a bigger animal, or just freeze to death (taking into account the weather outside). I guess we could have kept it as a pet and waited for Spring to set him free.
4- Is Westin a losery wuss for feeling so sad about the life of the poor little mouse? I don't think so, he wrote this one, not me.
We don't feel guilty in any way, it's just one of the gloomy aspects of life. It is a good thing Serena is not older, it would be hard to explain this to her.
6 months ago
