- Apr 15, 2009
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Generally, I have no problems dispatching predators and pests that have made a nuisance of themselves. I don't actively live-trap or hunt them down, but I am not against killing the occasional nuisance animal. That being said- I try to do it quickly and humanely when it has to be done. A bullet or snap traps are my usually method of dealing with the rodent explosion we have had in my area in the past two years.
Last evening I had an obviously ill gray squirrel staggering around my yard. My 6 y.o. daughter alerted me to its presence when she accidentally stepped on it and it didn't run away. She wasn't bitten (Thank God for mucking boots!), but the squirrel continued to walk around in circles and acted very alarmingly. I didn't have time to go all the way back into the house to grab the varmint gun, but there was an axe nearby so I grabbed it and a butterfly net with the intent of catching the squirrel and dispatching it cleanly. The squirrel then jumped into my ornamental pond and started to swim in circles. I couldn't get a solid swing with the axe while the animal was swimming around in the pond, and I didn't want to dump any tainted (rabies, distemper, who knows what was wrong with it) blood into the pond where my daughter and ducks play.
So I drowned him. It was over in less than 20 seconds and the squirrel barely struggled, but I feel like the worst sort of person. My poor daughter got to watch her mother DROWN a fuzzy, woodland creature in our ornamental pond. She is okay with it because she was scared half to death, but I am horrified.
Fish and Game was contacted, but they won't test the animal because no one was bitten or scratched by it. Rabies test cost about $300 to perform, and squirrels are not generally a rabies vector. As long as the animal is dead and disposed of properly they are unconcerned. They complimented me on my quick and decisive action.
I still feel like such a heel, though.
Last evening I had an obviously ill gray squirrel staggering around my yard. My 6 y.o. daughter alerted me to its presence when she accidentally stepped on it and it didn't run away. She wasn't bitten (Thank God for mucking boots!), but the squirrel continued to walk around in circles and acted very alarmingly. I didn't have time to go all the way back into the house to grab the varmint gun, but there was an axe nearby so I grabbed it and a butterfly net with the intent of catching the squirrel and dispatching it cleanly. The squirrel then jumped into my ornamental pond and started to swim in circles. I couldn't get a solid swing with the axe while the animal was swimming around in the pond, and I didn't want to dump any tainted (rabies, distemper, who knows what was wrong with it) blood into the pond where my daughter and ducks play.
So I drowned him. It was over in less than 20 seconds and the squirrel barely struggled, but I feel like the worst sort of person. My poor daughter got to watch her mother DROWN a fuzzy, woodland creature in our ornamental pond. She is okay with it because she was scared half to death, but I am horrified.
Fish and Game was contacted, but they won't test the animal because no one was bitten or scratched by it. Rabies test cost about $300 to perform, and squirrels are not generally a rabies vector. As long as the animal is dead and disposed of properly they are unconcerned. They complimented me on my quick and decisive action.
I still feel like such a heel, though.
