If I would have seen the holes before the squirrels got in, thats what I would have done. I didn't want to kill it, but the safety of my family comes first.

My concern about you shooting in your attic is a reflection on some of the lunacy I saw as a kid growing up in Michigan. Ever seen your dad fishing with a .30-06? I have.

Caught what looked like chipmunks or baby squirrels in the attic a long time ago, using a Hav-A-Hart trap. They didn't enjoy the swim in the shop sink....

Moved onto a bigger Hav-A-Hart trap outside and lost track of trapping and shooting them with a pellet gun after 35. I threw them in the lot next door and they were gone the next day. Something was getting easy meals for awhile. :)

Once a shovel in hands, I lifted it up over head ready to smack a big posum while she was doing the "kung fu" steps in front of me. Then I saw her stomach moved and one by one I saw the little one. I couldn't do it. Somehow, she got the message. I have not seen her for a while now.

Ground squirrels will destroy a vegi garden just for the hell of it. They are hell. Tree squirrels not so much, but you gotta keep out of your walls.

Squirrels are rats with fuzzy tails. My solution is Sylvia. She kills anything that gets into the garden. This one was on the roof when it made a slight error and fell. By the time we found it, the head was missing. We never did find the head.

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My cat is a real mouser, he catches em all the time.
most of em, he just leaves out back in the "boneyard" (garden).
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Sometimes, i wake up, and i see some mouse guts and a head on my tile floor.
The worst is when he brings em in a live.

Then it's up to me, to catch the mouse from the cat to avoid having to clean up mouse guts of my tile floor.
To do that i have to growl louder at the cat, then he growls at me (for attempting to take the mouse).

half the time, the mouse is still in one piece, and still has legs to carry him.
Like these lucky sob's:
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the other half, the mouse has a broken back, or serious puncture wounds.

So you got the poor thing on your hand, frightened , in pain, looking at ya. What do you do?


Well, i don't like killing animals, but i hate the idea of prolonged agony more.

The easiest thing, is to flush em down the toilet.. they'll drown in no time.
The most merciful thing, i tried it, is a wooden 2x4, smack it on the mouse.

WARNING: Don't do that inside the house!!
A mouse is basically a little bag of bloodNgutsNpoo.
They are very mercifully dead with a 2x4, instant, no suffering
But after that, you get to clean up the bloodNgutsNpoo that did a major SPLAT! into all directions.

So i'm sticking to the flush method, though i feel slightly sad about the inglorious demise of a little mouse.. They are actually quite cute if you get them close up. I think Squirrels are not much different, just slightly bigger.. Get a 4x4 instead of a 2x4.. post results of the SPLAT!

My cat has a habit of bringing mostly mobile moles (nice alliteration, huh), into our utility room and chases them to have fun. She eventually kills them, and there is never anything to clean up. I was thinking about putting the cat in the attic to take care of them...

Squirrels are frigging lightning fast, at the very least he would give the cat a run for his money.
Tape it, put it on youtube!

Trapped an injured and sick cat just an hour ago. This has been going on since Monday. Frickin animal officers managed to chase it into the bushes 3 days in a row. They set a trap, but the cat was too sick to eat. Plus it was blinded in a fight, one eye literally scratched out.

However, given what I have told you, if I killed it I would have been charged. Premeditated killing of an animal in the city will get you a year in county. Then there's the discharging a fire arm fine. Not cheap. And then you're a felon.

Just telling you so you know the perspective of rural, suburban and urban living. I think I could have killed that cat if allowed.

Otherwise, I don't kill animals or eat them.

Well, on the other hand, cats are tough as nails, i've seen plenty of cats with missing eyes, that recovered nicely

true, mostly farm cats that have a home of sorts..
Feral cats in the city don't usually get old, 2 years is the average.

My cat Bubba is a son of a b1tch, his mother was a feral street cat in Rotterdam..
they were caught when he was still in the litter, and that's how he ended up with me.
He's a miserable sod, doesn't like people, complains a lot, but he has good genes and instincts.. knows how to take care of himself ..
He's already 4 times older then he would have been as a feral, and going strong.

How about rats?

Do any of you need a recipe for squirrel jambalaya? We ate it all the time when I was a kid.

Good question. I guess one can set out poison or a trap. Vector control has poison set out at every market. Might be a difference in direct killing and indirect killing, I don't know.

But I know I better not shoot one.

Found a mama mouse and her little ones in the trunk of the 911 last fall... A set of long needle nose pliers and a hammer quickly ended the infestation. I later found out my MIL had walked around the corner and witnessed a few drops of the hammer. Don't think she's been the same since.

Growing up out in the sticks, this scene was a regular occurance when you found a nest in the barn - no big deal. My dad used to give them swimming lessons, I tend to think the hammer is more humane.

Mouse in the 911 is DEATH. I tell them all to stay out of the house, but will they listen ? Recently I have been sealing up the garage to eliminate this problem.

They are not living, breathing feeling creatures.

But I would not be able to kill a squirrel, mouse or rabbit. For that matter I can't even kill a cricket when I find them in my garage I pick them up and throw them back outside. But a lawyer, I would not stop to pizz on one if I saw it burning on the side of the road. I might stop but I would just watch and laugh as it squirmed.

I don't like to watch death throes. If the critter has the courtesy to die quickly I'm OK with it. When I had to shoot groundhogs I was always careful to get a head shot. They don't take long to die if you hit them right. I got so I wouldn't shoot if I couldn't see the head. I didn't mind bird hunting because by the time I found them they were always dead. Deer hunting always was a problem because I wasn't a good enough shot to hit an "instant down" nerve and they'd hobble around and struggle. I hated that. When it was chicken killing time on the farm I always cut their heads off - I knew they were dead. My grandfather would grab them by the head and swing their bodies around and throw them back down and let them flop and struggle. He could "kill" 25 chickens in a minute.
I CANNOT see killing something just for the fun of it. I think something has to be wrong with someone who finds it fun.

I don't kill animals. Unless absolutely necessary - which hasn't happened so far in my life.

I respect life - especially for animals - most of which are far superior in morality than humans.

:rolleyes:

Only had to do it once and felt awful. On the other hand we have a few black bears that are getting more aggressive of late.