It was my nephew’s birthday and my mom and niece were visiting on the back deck; well, to be more precise, they were hanging over the back deck and pointing at something out of view. After several minutes, I finally went out and asked what was so interesting. Then I saw it; a squirrel was caught in a humane trap just below the deck. As mom explained, a neighbor had set it for the chipmunks.
My mom’s neighbors have a lovely if not simple backyard. The colorful perimeter is peppered with orange day lilies, patches of yellow and white daisies, milkweed for the monarchs, a magnolia tree, budding rose of sharon, and a whole host of other flowers in bloom I couldn’t identify. In the center of the yard is one of three bird feeders and a bird house that peak out from a trellis full of some sort of ivy. I’d seen deer in the yard many times, and they had more birds than my mom did.
I wasn’t clear why we were just standing there, watching the squirrel pace and throw itself against the trap. I went down and opened it part of the way when the neighbor came running to pull the release and the squirrel escaped under a nearby bush. The neighbor came out and, as we chatted about milkweed and bumblebees and monarch butterflies, I learned that he used the trap to capture chipmunks. What, I asked did he do with them when he caught them. “Bucket of water,” he said with a shrug and a slight grin.
Shit. It was unexpected. I figured anyone who planted milkweed for butterflies and bumblebees and fed birds year-round surely wasn’t using a Havahart® trap for anything other than the humane trapping and releasing of animals.
“You know,” he said, “releasing an animal somewhere else would be illegal.”
He was right. In most places, it is illegal to trap an animal then remove it to another location. It was also cruel. Like taking grandma out of the home she’s lived in all her life and moving her across the country, away from all family and friends.
He went on with a patronizing shrug, saying that he knew they were cute – the deer were cute when they were little and chipmunks certainly were cute – but they ate his bushes. They destroyed his plants and his trees.
I didn’t say what I was thinking, only because this man is my mom’s friend and one of the only people she sees these days on any sort of regular basis. But I did express my extreme displeasure and disengaged from the conversation immediately.
I’m pretty sure the Havahart® inventors did not expect consumers to capture animals humanely in their trap, only to be drowned when removed. Even to save the life of the greenery in the yard. Unfortunately, this do-anything-to-save-what-is-mine or let-nothing-stand-in-the-way-of-what-I-think-makes-me-happy attitude is a deeply ingrained one in our species. It requires constant and mindful attention to our own thoughts and biases and a willingness to make change.
Suffering For Us 