Saturday, February 20, 2021

Adventures with Wildlife in Arkansas

 So last night was exciting -- I was up late reading, and the cats suddenly began knocking things over and banging into doors in the hallway.

I went to see what was up and they had a mouse cornered. I said several bad words and went to get a bowl to put over it, except when I got back it had run behind a bookcase. They sat watching the exits (one cat on one end and one on the other) for about an hour, while I twitched nervously.

Eventually, exhausted, the mouse crept out and just sat there, tharn, while the cats sat studying it. (A motionless mouse apparently does not trigger their prey reflex.) I gingerly put the bowl over it, slid an empty file folder under the bowl, and carried it out to release it in the wild.

The wild was 14 degrees and snowy last night, which I assume is why the mouse came inside. So I'm not sure this was a kindness. 

Better than letting the cats bat it around for hours, though, I guess.


4 comments:

Athena Andreadis said...

Having had my own adventures with fuzzies venturing indoors, I think it's better to release it outside than have it either starve or be mauled. And even if there were no adversaries around to keep it careful, it would chew through everything and multiply rapidly -- so coexistence would be fraught!

delagar said...

Yeah, I couldn't see leaving it inside.

Jenny F Scientist said...

I have on occasion relocated fuzzy baby bunnies out of my garden to their certain death via fields full of hawks and foxes. Sometimes rodents just need to be elsewhere!

delagar said...

True!