Aaaaaaaaaaaand...

[danteshuman]

Our sliding glass door is usually open (California weather.) You guys are making me feel better about the occasional dead hummingbird (semi-feral catches) & the live finches my punk brings in the house. The only ones who hunts pigeons are the stray feral cat and out local hawk.

 

[Caspers Human]

That mouse isn't paying rent. Is it?

I've got no qualms about letting the cats catch mice that come inside the house.

Years ago, we had a woodchuck that lived in our yard until it started burrowing under the foundation of the house. If I had let that varmint keep living there it might have collapsed the basement wall. Sorry, Phil... I've gotta' move you.

I tried pepper spray, smoke bombs and all sorts of tricks to no avail. I finally had to trap it out.

If you didn't know, relocating animals such as woodchucks isn't really possible because they are territorial. If you try to move a woodchuck into another woodchuck's territory, the resident will defend its property and either kill the interloper or prevent it from feeding... likely starving the intruder to death.

Besides, it's illegal to relocate wildlife without a permit.

That left me with only one alternative... I had to dispatch the varmint.
Don't worry. It was done humanely. (Carbon monoxide.)

I agree with you. I care about animals and, as long as they stay outside in the fields, meadows and forests where they belong, I leave them alone and enjoy their company from a distance.

If they come into the house, I'll try my best to keep them out... Blocking potential entrances... Sealing holes in the foundation... Keeping food and garbage out of reach... etc. But if those things don't work, we have to preserve the health and safety of our own homes... Critters gotta' go.

If prevention doesn't work and, if coaxing them to leave doesn't work, there's only one alternative... Let the cats get them!

Besides... It keeps the cats occupied.

 

[silkenpaw]

I once lived in old student housing. I had two cats and occasionally found decapitated mice thoughtfully left for me. One night a got a call from my supervisor who was desperately looking for a place to put up a colleague for the night. Why? She had seen a mouse in her apartment and she couldn’t possibly stay there for another minute! Of course, I welcomed her to my place and prayed that this wouldn’t be the night that another mouse would venture out of the wall. All went well, thankfully, and my house guest left none the wiser