12.29.2007

Vandal!

Last December 28th I posted a picture of some shells I had found in the work swamp -- they have been on my desk for a whole year. Yesterday morning I went into my office and found this:


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Some nocturnal vandal had visited my just-straightened, unusually cleared-off desk and left this mess in its wake. Plus, a butterfly wing I had been studying was missing! Who could do such a thing? Determined to find out, I set a live trap and left the office for a few minutes. Surely the culprit would return to the scene of the crime (particularly since I had baited the trap with some extra yummy peanuts...).

AHA!

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The miscreant did indeed return! I emptied the live trap into a large galvanized trash can to get a good look at it before I dispatched it...my mistake. Took one look at those big eyes and those cute ears and couldn't bring myself to kill it. Such a sucker. I toted the can well out into the woods and let the little rodent go. Yeah, it will probably be back in my office in no time, but then again it could end up as owl/hawk/fox food...mmmmwwwwahhhh.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yep, I would have reacted in exactly the same way.

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

That's one of the cutest mice I've seen in a long time. I couldn't have killed it (even if it were ugly!).

swamp4me said...

pablo,
So you, too, are a sucker? Glad to know I'm not the only one :)

Lynne,
I'll probably regret it, but it was just too cute to kill. I might feel differently when I get back to work and find more vandalism of my desk ;)