Little Visitor

I've decided that maybe I should be a Buddhist.  Well, lots of people ask me if I am due to the fact that I just find it totally impossible to harm animals.  I'm the one in the family who will actually take a cockroach out into the garden, so when I saw a little field mouse walk into the house the last thing I thought of doing was setting a trap……a killing/maiming one.

I was sitting on the deck, minding my own business and having a morning coffee when I saw this cute little mouse come from behind the broom that's up against the wall and just duck inside.

I named her Millie……of course, she could have been a Mickey.  So Millie took up residence behind the fridge.  She was exceptionally clean, never saw any sign that she was even in the house, in fact we actually thought she'd gone back outside.  However, the clue was all the little dog biscuits that we saw along the side of the fridge.

Now the dog is old, blind and deaf and, although still with a good sense of smell, she totally had no idea that someone else was dining out on her food.  In fact Millie really was living the high life….where else would she be warm, safe and buffet styled fresh food right on her doorstep.

But it was time for action.  After searching the net I came across a humane mouse trap ideal for trapping and releasing.

The trap duly arrived and after putting a little peanut butter on the end it was set right next to the fridge.  It did go through my mind that maybe Millie, with a stock of food already, may not be tempted.

Now the idea of the trap is that Millie would run into it, go to the end where the food is, the door would shut and the trap would tip.  So quite when Millie got in there is anyone's guess.  During the day I did hear little clicking noises, check the trap but it still looked like it was in the "set" mode, hadn't tipped at all.  It wasn't until later in the evening and on closer inspection I realized that she was, in fact, in there.  Design fault...needs to be a sticker on the door so you know that it's shut - where's the paint brush, I'll put a dot of paint there.

Well, there was nothing else to be done….I mean, I had no idea how long the poor little thing had been in there, but she just had to be released regardless of the fact that I was now in the P.J.s.  Into the car we hopped (dog and all) and off round the corner to the reserve next to the beach.

Millie was released, right next to the trash bin….well, got to give a girl some hope!!!

A little p.s.  pulling the fridge out to clean (and check there was no nest .... no), wow there was a huge stash of doggie bikkies under and around the fridge - I wonder if she had a bit of squirrel in her????

Happy Animals
Fee
website:  www.thevegetariancenter.com