I killed a mouse yesterday.

We've seen a mouse or 2 running around the school for the last week or so, and 2 days ago, we managed to trap one in the office. We put down a box of D-Con and stuffed the crack around the door with rags to keep it in. Yesterday morning when I got to work, my boss had barricaded herself in one of the classrooms because she had seen a mouse and thought it was the one in the office. I climbed into the office, moved the photocopier and saw it scurry behind a filing cabinet.

A few hours later, I walked by the office and saw it just sitting in the middle of the floor. It saw me and started to move, but it was walking like it was drunk and moving very slowly. It crawled under the copier again, so I went and got a pair of rubber gloves, and a box. I picked it up, deposited it into the box, and took it outside. I was going to let it go, as it was going to die anyway, but my boss wouldn't let me. She was afraid another animal would eat it and die too. So...instead I had to put the box in a plastic bag and put it in the trash can. I felt so bad for the little mouse!!! A harmless, disgusting little creature, that I poisoned and ultimately suffocated or squashed with garbage!

I looked up d-Con online last night to find out what it was, as I had wanted traps, but my boss's husband refused, saying that the poison was better. Well, turns out that d-Con is Warfarin, an anti-coagulent, mixed with cornmeal to make it smell appealing. Because it's a blood thinner, cause of death is ultimately internal hemorraging. That just seems cruel to me. I'd rather kill it with a trap that will shorten the time of death significantly. It ate it around 6:00 pm and took it out at noon the next day. Even for vermin, this seems unnecessary.