Wives and mice

You might, if you pick your moment very carefully, tell your wife that to do so is a criminal offence!

I thought it was OK as long as you stopped for proper refreshments. i.e. cheese and water stop.

They need to be inspected by a MAFF vet both before and after the journey.

Of course if they're blind, and the wife has a carving knife it's a whole different set of regulations.

Jim.

Idea for late Christmas present: Mouse Cage.

Empty trap into cage, beware frightened mice can jump quite well, make sure trap exit is inside the cage, but not the whole trap so that you can close the door quickly...

Deport at your leisure the next day. Put some hay or shredded paper so the mouse can make itself a nest and feel safe under some cover. Odd bits of food will help it survive the night as well, we bung in bits of apple peeling, carrot or similar.

Bear in mind the releasing vermin on anothers property is an offence... so unless you can release a couple of miles or more from any habitation I wouldn't recomend it.

Even if you are further than two miles from habitation it does not preclude the committing of the offense. You need to find land that is not owned and that is pretty difficult in this country.

I think not. It is with some species, but not mice.

You should have told her to do it.

Mary

I understood thatr very little land is actually owned - we mostly own the freehold, which is a different matter.

But I'm willing to be advised otherwise - with appropriate authority.

I obviously need more in my glass.

Mary

All land law is effectively by possession anyway.

However, owning a freehold is the highest form of possession you can have.

To all practical intents and purposes such possession has bee ownership since the enclosure act of 1831.

I would not like it if someone drove out a nd let loose a load of mice on my freehold, and should I find them doing it I would be able , using my freehold/possession of said land ( with or without title deed registration) bring a prosecution of same under the law. In the latter case of possession without title I may need to establish my ownership under the current land laws of 1881 and 2002 ( concerning possessory title) but that would not prevent me pursuing the case in practical terms under the rodent acts.

In fact anyone can do so, as the offense is letting the vermin loose , it does not require that the person reporting it own the land on which they are let loose, just that said land is possession of some person and most land in this country is - including country parks and national parks.

More than that, from an animal behaviourist point of view, I doubt the mice will like it. Mice tend to stick to known and travelled routes within their own territories, to move them any distance is itself inhumane since it leaves them off their tracks and subject to all sorts of predation. Much better to kill them quickly than catch them and make them die a slow and stressed death by using so called "humane traps"

If you use a proper Longworth trap - as used in the field - then it's fairly easy to transfer rodent to bag or cage.

registration)

Sounds as though you know something about the matter :-)

That's interesting.

I couldn't agree more.

Mary

I'd rather give them the (slim) chance of making a go of their new life or feed one of the local predators. Life is hard for the wild life up here.

I didn't say it would, only that I wouldn't release within 2 miles of any habitation. Which would mean, for most of the country, no release.

: Don't you just love them? : My wife has a thing about humane mouse traps, she doesn't like the idea : of hurting them so guess who was out at 01:30 hrs on Christmas day : taking a mouse for a drive. : : I don't know who was dafter me or the mouse for getting caught. : -- : -- Bill

Oh for God's sake, just chop its head off with a spade and be done with it.

Our 4 legged Weapon of Mouse Destruction has just turned up here to see what I am doing. She does not recommend trap-and-release, feeling it a total waste of entertaining food.

Someone wrote;

Comment: Road kill; anyone?

Comment: Yes: But then you need 'three' of the little blighters. And see how they run, in all directions! :-)

A colleague of mine tells the story of when his dad caught a mouse every night in a humane trap, and released it on wasteland at the end of the road. After a few days he got suspicious, and marked the back of one of them with a magic marker. Sure enough they were catching the same one each time.

Not a bright mouse then!

Mary

This happened here and why we now deport them to a wooded fell top 4 miles away. Though I think it was a nick in one of it's ears that gave it away, I did try to mark 'em but they are quick slippery customers with sharp teeth.

Seems pretty bright to me, keeps coming back to the warmth and food supply. I doubt the mouse comes straight in and to the trap, it'll stop off for snacks and nibbles along the way. They make a *very* good job of finding the tiniest crumb.