Down with Nimh

I have a very particular, and not particularly popular amongst my friends, view on vermin. I think they should all die. I don't believe in catch and release, I believe in using lethal force whether by way of traps or poison. I want them dead and gone.

When I say vermin I am really not limiting myself to the field mice and rats that like to take up residency in my house during the winter months. We live on a golf course and it is pretty much an unavoidable reality. It gets cold and the rats move in.

When I say vermin I actually include racoons and opossums in that list as well. You might think that they look all cute and what not, but have you ever seen what one of those things will do to your dog if they catch them? They are mean and very often diseased.

I get the whole argument that we have invaded their territory and we should try and live with them or at least not kill them. I understand why you would say that, and I would love to go with you on that. I really would like to be that soft hearted and good. Only I am not.

I have seen the damage that they can do. I have seen a dog mauled by a rabid coon. I have seen what a coon in your attic will do to your insulation and wiring.  I don't have enough good in my heart to give the critter a pass because my house and his territory transect. My wallet isn't that well padded.

We had a gnarled old raccoon come into the yard a few years ago. My poor dog was having fits over it. When we finally caught sight of it the husbeast and I knew that it had to go. The thing was as big as our dog and it showed signs of having fought many battles and had lived to tell the tale. We were worried for our very timid dogs safety.

What came about after that was a very comical evening of the husbeast and the kid in the backyard with a boar spear (what you don't have a boar spear laying around your house?) trying to kill the raccoon. Unfortunately we have very tall dense oak trees and they were unable to reach to intruder. As much as they tried the raccoon lived on to terrorize our dog.

After a few weeks we realized we hadn't seen the raccoon again. We mostly thought that it had just moved on after all the hub bub. It wasn't like we were making this a quiet and inviting new home for it. Plus there was that pesky dog.

This is when we discovered that while our dog is very much an omega around people, in the yard she is the great huntress. We discovered one day on our porch a single raccoon paw that had been gnawed upon greatly. We never found the rest of the body and there was not a single mark on the dog. Either that thing died of a heart attack or she got the jump on it. Either way it was dead, and I didn't care.

Right now I have two exterminators in my attic laying snap traps and spreading poison. Hopefully in a few days the rat problem will once again be dealt with, and by dealt with I mean dead. I know they aren't anything as large as coons, but if it were raccoons in my attic, I would be saying the same thing.