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Friday |
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addition to invited guests, we've been getting some unwanted visitors. A stray hunting dog savagely killed two geese and many chickens a month ago. Rats are getting in the henhouse and eating eggs. Feral pigs uproot plantings and dig big hazardous holes. Mongooses come and decapitate chickens, leaving the bodies behind to be pecked to pieces by their cannibal brethren. Death is the life of a farm. We tried trapping before with no luck but Sarah made it happen today with a Havahart trap, but maybe it should be "half a heart" because although they're caught unharmed what do you think happens next? Conventional wisdom says drown them by submerging the cage in a creek or trashcan of water. That didn't sound entirely humane to me, but we gave it a try a la Goldilocks--we hauled out various vessels until we found one we thought was just right. It wasn't. It was just a centimeter too shallow and we discovered mongoose are very good swimmers. Drowning seemed a bad idea anyway because the mammalian diving reflex would likely prolong the agony, so we went with my first idea: carbon monoxide. We slid the cage into a plastic bag and fastened it to Jeep's tailpipe. It inflated surprisingly fast and we poked a vent hole at opposite end so it wouldn't pop. It did the trick quickly and quietly. We hated to do it but these ornery varmints are nothing but trouble. Rest in peace. |
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