Moral dilemma... sorta

So, we saw evidence of a mouse in the house the other day (week?) and then saw the critter him or herself shortly thereafter. Being not so thrilled at the thought of the マウス (mouse) running through our cabinets, eating the dog food and generally scattering footprints (and droppings!) all over our kitchen, we bought traps. Ya' know, the sticky kind -- when they run over it, they get caught in them.

On the one hand, these traps are very humane. No pain involved. On the other hand, the mouse is likely to be alive when you catch it because the trap doesn't kill it. Which means you have to.

Or not.

Or what?

And that's the dilemma that reared its cute head.

We caught twice the mice this way. And both were alive. I abdicated all responsibility for deal with them, so SM had to.

So what do you do in this kind of situation? Kill them? Free them outside? Well, he didn't kill them. Nor did he free them outside. He put them in a garbage bag and threw them in the dumpster outside.

In other words, he buried them alive. Left them to suffocate and/or freeze to death.

::sigh::

Not that I wanted to keep them. After all, that's the point of the trap -- to get rid of them. But, but, but, well, I had gerbils growing up. And mice look too much like pets to not feel at least a twinge of conscience over this.

But if they had been bugs, no problem. Bugs would never be pets in this household.