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Yeah, I had considered taking him outside, but, he'd have just come back, or the dog would have gotten him (more likely) and if he had been poisoned, the dog might have gotten sick.
My cat is worthless when it comes to hunting mice, she is old and feels she ought to retire from such mundane work.
The prayer is still legit - it's just that I have limits to my tolerance of nasty disease bearing creatures who choose to take up residence where they don't belong.
I look at it like this - if the mouse wants to live, it has many places it can live. My house is not a mouse hotel. I have mice in the barn that I leave to their own devices - they are welcome to any spilled feed or scraps of hay to bed in.
If I let the mouse live in my house, it would --
A) cost me money (wiring, insulation torn up, etc...)
B) bring in filth and disease.
C) perhaps make my own pets sick if they ingest a poisoned mouse.
When a mouse or any other of God's Creatures becomes a menace to my family/pets/home then it is fair game.
It's the same if I had a racoon or possum or some such after my chickens in their coops - I would remedy the situation.
I don't think that being willing to kill a creature for trespass where it can become a threat is against the sentiments expressed in the prayer. As for flushing the little guy - would it be more humane to let a cat or my dog play with it for hours before finally letting it die?
I chose the quickest death I could.
I figured when I posted this that someone would be offended.
Oh well -
meri
I wasn't offended at all, Meri, and I TOTALLY understand about a wild critter's crossing the line when it comes into our homes or when it endangers our pets, whether inside the home or outside, and I don't blame anyone whatsoever for taking whatever actions necessary to protect their home, pets, and livestock. I was merely making the point that it may have been more humane to (and I know this sounds totally opposite "humane") give him a hard smack on the head with a hammer , i. e. instant death, than drowning (or as marlinchaser pointed out, maybe it didn't drown at all, who knows..? ) I hope you weren't offended at my observations, and I
really hope you didn't think I was denigrating or putting down your prayer's legitimacy; I didn't think that at all, I was just curious as to how to reconcile the prayer with the mouse dispatching. You did an excellent job of clarifying that, and I thank you. Blessings on you and your household. Hope to meet you someday if we ever have a chicken swap close enough!
