What have i done!!!!

[chrispy]

Have just answered a call from a damsel in distress, (my lovely nextdoor neighbour), whom had seen a field mouse running across her lawn.

I captured it in a bucket, and slipped a bit of card under it, and fully intended to drive it out of town a bit to release it.

The mistake was to go back indoors to fetch my car keys...........oh....my.....god.....it now has three children and the OH fawning over it, with straw and selected Guinea pig food, and my cries of " we letting it go" and " i should have flippin killed it" are going unheaded, with the exception of the OH telling me i wouldn't have the heart to kill it ( she's right )

What have i done???

[Jardiniere]

have you got a cat?

[FionaH]

What have you done? Got a new pet by the looks of it!

[chrispy]

I've got three bloomin cats Jardinaire, fat lot of good they were!!

[HayleyB]

Let the mouse bite them - it was born in the wild - and then take it at least 3/4 of a mile away to release it.......

[SarzWix]

Why couldn't it have been left running across the lawn?! The kitchen floor I can understand her wanting it out, but in the garden?! Poor thing was just living it's life! It certainly shouldn't be kept in a cage, cute or not, it's a wild animal. Plus it could well be a pregnant field mouse...

[veggielover]

I'm a bit of a sucker when it comes to animals and one day when i was in the petshop ( buying feeds for my then zoo ) i saw a lonely little mouse all on its own with no friends to play with.... i knew i had an empty cage at home so i bought it. I can tell u they SMELL, even daily cleaning can't quite keep the smell away!!

[chrispy]

Why couldn't it have been left running across the lawn?! The kitchen floor I can understand her wanting it out, but in the garden?! Poor thing was just living it's life! It certainly shouldn't be kept in a cage, cute or not, it's a wild animal. Plus it could well be a pregnant field mouse...

Obviously it won't be kept as a pet, but rescuing it was better than death by broomstick! some people don't like mice, just as some people don't like cats!!!

[jackie j]

It might have a family nearby and you have taken it away from them .................LOL

[lynda66]

yup, you should actually release it again where you found it, and tell her you took it away, she'll probably never see it again ... cos it may have babies unless it's a male (very obvious) ... and go down the pet shop and get a couple of female mice, they don't smell and they make great pets and you can teach them tricks

[Alice]

I would put it back where it came from Chrispy. What harm was it doing. Just don't let your neighbour see you and tell her you took it far, far away.

[Nicos]

I'd release it miles away..it's been a wonderful experience for your kids- and a learning curve.
You don't want its grand children moving into the house for the winter- and eating the breakfast cereal .....and pasta .....and rice ....and cat food.... and....

it's a wild animal...and MUST have it's freedom....or death...the choice is yours

[chrispy]

Thankyou Nicos, the voice of reason. The mouse was quite disorientated when i caught it......(ever tried catching a wild mouse?), and we think it may have been dropped by a bird. After a bit of recouperation it was obviously a lot better, and so was liberated to open fields near by.

If i had put it back to where it was found, that would have been in the centre of my neighbours lawn, with my 3 cats one side, and another neighbours 2 cats on the other, along with numerous others that live close by, and that would have been pretty dumb.