Pet or Pest?

A little mice family moved into our garage for the winter. I know, because they left clues. I was hoping that they would just go away after a while but they decided to stay for good. Worse, they decided to venture into the house. I know, because they left clues...

I asked Ooling if he could smell the mice. He looked at me with those puppy eyes and woofed NO. I think he was even spooked by them once because he came running to the family room and jumped on my lap. - *Sigh* - What kind of dog are you, Oolong?

I debated what I should do. I left the side door open hoping they would just go. I banged the walls and ruffled things around in the garage hoping they would pack up and leave realizing that they have been discovered. Nope. It didn't work.

I finally decided to do the ultimate after they opened up my bag of wild rice. Ugh! That was it. I got some mouse glue pads. The instruction says "throw in the trash bin when done." It seemed easy.

I left four sticky pads out Sunday night. When I checked on Monday morning, two were not disturbed but two had a mouse stuck on each. I screamed and asked James to come help me. He peeked and screamed too. We both ran back to the house unsure what to do next. After collecting ourselves, I told James that someone has to throw away the pads and it will be him because I say so. He obliged since I'm the older sister (ya, right).

James used the bloom handle to stick the pads and ran to the trash bin with his eyes closed. He said he could not stand seeing these little guys still moving but unable to get away. Well, guess what? me too!

So we did what the instruction told us to do. We closed the bin feeling guilty. "They're pest." James attempted to assure me and himself. I affirmed, "Ya, they got into my rice." Somehow, both of us didn't like ourselves very much at that moment.

Later, while getting some doggy treats for Oolong at the supermarket, I felt very very bad all of a sudden. Here I was buying goodies for my pet. Yet, I just put two little lives in the trash bin like garbage because they were considered pest. Who is to say those mice could not be pets? They are even being sold in pet shops. Heck, they even come in brown and white colors too!

I know I did the right thing by getting rid of the mice. Yet, I can't help but feeling bad about human's differential treatment of pets and pests. Pet or Pest, It is really how we humans decide on which is which and we determine their fate. The animals are just being themselves as nature intends them to be. :(

RIP, little mice family.