my little mouse friend

today i brought a mouse into my apartment - on purpose.

here’s what happened.

i went to do laundry in my building’s laundry room. just as i was about to leave again, i happened to catch a bit of movement out of the corner of my eye. i looked closer and saw the tiniest mouse struggling to free itself from a glue trap.

(more about glue traps later.)

i knew my building’s caretaker had been distributing glue traps, but i never used them, and i never will. i’m a humane mouse trap kinda guy, and that will never change.

watching the mouse struggle to get free was heartbreaking, and i knew i had to do something but wasn’t sure how to go about it. a quick google search revealed that vegetable oil can loosen the adhesive, so i went to grab… cooking spray.

it seemed like the most convenient option for everyone involved, okay?

i figured a little spray here, a little spray there, would be enough to set this little guy free.

with the first spray, the mouse let out a tiny little squeak. i waited a couple of minutes, but the mouse’s struggle to free itself didn’t look any easier. if i wasn’t quite sure what to do before, the little squeak told me everything i needed to know: no matter what it took, i would save this little guy.

i ran back to my apartment, grabbed a container big enough to hold the glue trap and my little friend, and rushed back to the laundry room.

i still didn’t know how to free him, but i definitely didn’t need an audience while figuring it out, so i took him back to my apartment and set him in the tub.

i was able to get a better look at him now and saw that he was mostly unstuck, except for a small patch of fur. thank you, pam cooking spray!

i figured i needed something stronger this time, so armed with extra virgin olive oil and a plastic ruler, i was finally able to gently get him off the glue trap.

now, don’t get me wrong: the mouse was very cute, but while i disagree with my landlord’s methods, i do agree they cannot share our building with us; my little friend had to go.

still in the plastic container, i carried him across the bridge to the other side of the river. there, i released him into a bush where he can now make many new friends.

(i hope he goes on to live a long and happy mouse life, but at the very least i know he has a fighting chance to do so.)

that brings me back to glue traps. i understand that mice can carry diseases and absolutely need to be removed from our living spaces. but you will never convince me that glue traps are the way to do it.

glue traps are an inhumane fate for any living creature. they are barbaric and should never be sold.

please stop using them.