Living in the country, we sometimes see a mouse indoors, especially in the kitchen. We spend a lot of time working enjoying our lives in conscious communication with cats, dogs, chickens, sheep, and goats; we came to realize it made no sense to wantonly kill mice. And yet, they don’t belong in the house; they carry and spread disease, and, it’s unpleasant to find mouse poop in the silverware drawer, chewed bags of nuts in the pantry, etc.
Peter is steady of hand and eye and created a protocol, “Mouse Hospital,” for managing the mousely fact of country living. We use glue traps and as quickly as possible after we hear the squeaks of a captured mouse (“Doctor! You have a patient in the waiting room!”) Peter uses Qtips and baby oil to unstick the mouse. He holds it by the scruff of the neck to avoid being bitten. When the patient is free of the glue, he drops the mouse into a plastic jar and off they go to the Heath.
Another day in the life of a Tender Shepherd.