I HAVE NO RAT PHOTOS, SO THE PRAIRIE DOG WILL HAVE TO DO
`````There's a rat at work. No, I don't mean to suggest that there's some cad who leaves the toilet seat up. There's an actual four legged, black rat with a very long tail. I had spotted him about two weeks ago, and he is a fairly large one. As Dr Laura would say, here's where my "ethical dilemma" began.
`````I know that I should have reported the rascal; he's a health risk after all and people with compromised immune systems can have issues with rat poop. I made a little blurb about him and mentioned him, so that people wouldn't be too shocked if they saw him. You see, Ricky Rat is a climber; he was up on the rafters and could have given somebody quite the start.
`````Others have since spotted him and now there's a concentrated effort to catch him. He made his presence known last night and I could have caught him easily. He jumped into the garbage bin directly beside me. I saw his tail curled like some question mark as he explored the remnants of somebody's potato chips. He caught me looking and retreated back to the safety of his peep hole. We stared at each other.
`````My issue is that I'm not afraid of mice or rats and I wouldn't want him to suffer in some nasty trap. Seriously, these are the sorts of ponderings that can ruin my day.
`````I have to confess that I used to kick the mouse traps at work shut, or trip them with my pen. I was always worried that the stray kittens would be caught in them by accident. They must have figured that the mice were damned smart for making off with the food all the time and not getting caught.
`````My demented ferals, would of course, take matters into their own hands. But bringing ones cats to work is hardly an appropriate course of action (unless I could somehow pass them off as trained pest controllers). They would think it was the greatest toy I'd ever given them.
`````I just have to hope that I'm not working the day the beast is caught in the trap and has to be dispatched.
Since I love rodents I would not have reported him/her. Not judging but that's just how I roll. I tend to take the animal's side in every animal human conflict. Like wishing that deer and bears knew how to shoot back at hunters.
ReplyDeleteAnd I get so pissed off after say a shark or bear attack and people try to find the poor thing and destroy it. Can't the supervisors at work get no kill traps then drop the poor thing off somewhere else?
I'm actually not sleeping as I'm thinking about the rat. There's a cage (skunk cage), with huge holes (yes, laughing here), so the beast will never be caught with it. Peanut-butter's the bait and I know this guy likes potato chips. I think he's inside because of the cold spell. The place is like The Wild Kingdom...racoons, skunks (have to watch for those guys when you go around a corner), feral cats and I've been lucky enough to see deer, a fewowls, a wayward beaver, one lynx, one bobcat, coyotees, a black bear and a huge cougar. Some farmer's kid shot the cougar about two weeks later and I was mega pissed. I love the skunks as I didn't realize that they really don't see that well and how tiny they are.
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