Guilty and feeling awful.

[PyreneesPlot]

I try really hard to garden with wildlife in mind and to that end use live traps to try and keep on top of the mole problem in the veg patch. The trap gets checked morning afternoon and last thing at night and we've never caught anything. This afternoon I was gutted to find a dead mole in the trap. What a horrid way to die - almost wish I'd used a kill trap instead.

[teakdesk]

Aw, not nice to find but don't beat yourself up about it too much.

Way I look at it is nature kills nature to feed itself; if there wasn't death in the wild then there wouldn't be the diversity of wildlife.

As a gardener/human I try NOT to kill but sometimes it happens; if it didn't then I wouldn't be able to grow enough crops to eat (I am sure farmers kill much more to stock the supermarkets with vegetables!).

So slug pellets are OK with me on the plot when slug damage gets too bad. Mouse traps in the house are OK when food is getting spoiled in my cupboards. Rat poison is OK in my garden to keep rat urine and poo off my fruit and crops.

Still hate seeing a body though... even dead slugs are upsetting.

[Verinda]

Ah don't feel too bad about it PP it was an accident and these things happen. A mouse once got stuck in the door of our live trap and died I'm sure a horrible death and I did feel terrible about it but you can only try your best which clearly you do all the time

[Scarlet]

nature kills nature to feed itself.

Thats a good way to put it. I hate killing anything, I spend hours making sure my chickens are kept in tip top condition and I don't want rats running through their pens, or mice running all over my toms in the GH. Sometimes I need to make sure they don't increase in numbers.