We all know
the PETA people are literally crazy about the critters.
Here's another great example of how they take it way beyond
common sense and have some down-right dumb ideas.
So, I'm over at hot hippie girl's apartment flipping thru her PETA
member's magazine and
I come upon the following story that is so stupid it's funny.
Philly attorney Elissa Katz is working at her desk when she hears
something:
"...it turned
out to be a small mouse stuck on a glue trap. For the next hour and a
half,
I methodically alternated between vegetable oil and warm water to free
the terrified and injured animal.
From that day on, Mouse became very bonded with me: sitting on my
shoulder,
eating from my hand, and squeaking when he wanted a treat." [scan of entire
article below]
This is such a bad idea on so many levels, I don't
know where to start.
Touching a wounded wild animal, even a tiny one, is a terrible
idea. It's not going to see you as its rescuer, it is going to bite you!
(and when it does bite you, PETA's likely position is that you
should still release it and just have the fun series of rabies shots!?)
Even if you miss the rabid bite, there's a reason wild mice are known
as vermin: they eat garbage and have fleas!
Ok, let's leave that alone and move on to the really ridiculous part of
the story: taming a wild rodent!
Even a kitten or puppy who has received no human contact will grow into
terribly mean, nervous, and unmanageable wild animal.
It definitely will NOT be indoor tame no matter how much you love it,
and that's despite being bred for
thousands of years as a domesticated animal.
Conversely, if you save a baby squirrel, racoon, or bear cub, and raise
it by hand,
it will still NEVER be a friendly and tame as domesticated pet.
Thus, OMG!, it is a total fantasy that a field mouse will be so emotionally
touched by you rescuing it that it immediately "bonds" with you!
They take this bullshit story over the credibility line with that one. I mean
scraping it off the glue and letting it go is one thing,
but leading members to believe you can let a rodent you found live in your hamster's
habitrail and make a nice pet out of it,
is just a stupidly irresponsible thing for PETA to suggest is usually possible.
Of Course, PETA doesn't write the article as a "How to" piece, but
c'mon, the praising tone of the article
is self-evident and the implication that readers should follow suit is inescapable.
Naive people (read: PETA members)
are going to read this, think it's for real,
and then try it themselves. I predict after seeing this article, some
dummy is going
to try to unstick a big New York rat and get a finger bitten off!
This is exactly the kind of thing that compromises PETA's credibility and extends its whacko reputation.
Bad, PETA, bad.
Even hot
hippie girl agrees this is PETA being silly and stupid.
I suppose a white lab mouse could make a good pet,
but touching a filthy glue trap to free a dirty rodent and
expecting Mickey Mouse is NOT recommended.
-Oogly
[Click here for more from Oogly]
Email from Charles Forsyth <charles.forsyth.jr@comcast.net> Sunday, January 4, 2009
I
am sure you'll ridicule me plenty for even speaking up, but I made the
mistake of purchasing these glue traps today, as a last ditch attempt
to control the onset of mouse infestation in my kitchen before
committing to the expense of an exterminator.
I
selected these traps because they said that supposedly if you chose to,
you could release the mice by using vegetable oil and a pencil to prod
the glue, and while not planning to adopt them, I had planned to
release them over the fence if I had ended up catching any.
Well,
tonight I caught one, and it looked like a baby, or perhaps they all
look like babies to me because the real babies are much smaller.
Anyway--I
got my pair of gloves on, and doused my hands with oil, and began to
try and work the mouse free, except that it didn't work. I tried as
hard as I could to be gentle while trying to work quickly to prevent
the mouse from having to be in that horrible goop any longer than
possible. While I couldn't tell exactly was happening to it's
tiny limbs but both it and I ultimately were causing much more damage
than the glue...It began to get its face stuck in it, and by the time I
got it out of the trap I am sure that at least one if not both of its
forearms were broken, and yes it was dead.
I
have been sobbing for so long my throat has swollen up, and I have been
finding it hard to breathe normally. I am sure you're probably
finding this all quite funny by now, and perhaps I should be quick to
understand why that may be, but all I know is that I couldn't bring
myself to kill creatures that were trying to find a wam and dry place
out of the ice cold, and however unsanitary and out of the question it
would be for me to think it would be okay to let them all move in, I
really thought I could eliminate the problem but still let them have a
chance either elsewhere or near some kind of tree stump or nest outside
and live out their life.
I don't
think I will ever be able to forget seeing its struggling to free
itself , and then knowing that I further injured it in some horribly
painful way. The more that can be said to make people stop buying these
things, the better.
My Response:
> I am sure you'll ridicule me plenty for even speaking up,
> I am sure you're probably finding this all quite funny by now
I
certainly do NOT find it funny. I absolutely understand your motivation
and intention. I'm only happy you didn't also get bitten and aren't
starting the new year in the emergency room getting rabies shots.
>
knowing that I further injured it in some horribly painful way. The
more that can be said to make people stop buying these things, the
better.
While there are no-kill traps available for purchase,
attempting to extract an injured animal from a glue trap is always
going to be a bad idea. Thin rubber gloves are not going to shield
anyone from a frightened animal's teeth.
What brand of glue trap was
this? Can you send a photo of the product's wrapping and especially
where it mentions that you can effectively release the trapped animal?
I'm
sorry you went through this and if we add your story to my article then
maybe your experience can have an overall positive effect by preventing
other similar incidents.
Thanks, -Oogly
[Unfortunately, Charles has not sent the images of the glue traps nor where it says it's easy to humanely release the animal]
Article was from this issue of the PETA member's magazine.
