rat killer

*******Warning: this post is not for the weak of heart- ****it includes descriptive langauge regarding death and blood*******

Just two days ago I had to kill a rat. It was gross that there was even a rat anywhere near our house. Let me begin the story from the beginning ;-)

Tuesday I was at home sick. At one point during the day our neighbor offered to have Sam come over and play with her dog, Emma. So, I took sam over there. They were playing as usual for awhile. At one point (probably by chance), I looked out the kitchen window and saw Emma running after what looked to me to be a squirrel. Emma ran it across the yard, and then Sam caught on and they both chased it up toward the front of my neighbor's house.

I figured that surely the little squirrel had gotten away, as those suckers are fast!

May 10-15 minutes later I heard some squealing outside and I couldn't tell what was going on, but it looked like Sam was ready to come home. Our neighbor came outside at the same time, and I heard her say something like "oh no- it is a dead animal!" The dogs had obviously caught the small animal they were chasing and seriously injured him.

The dogs wanted to play with this animal, but we obviously didn't want that, so I ran over to the neighbors to get sam. We checked out the small animal, which turned out to be a rat. His body was about as long as the distance between my thumb and pinkie finger when they are spread out (like the hang loose sign). Unfortunately, it looked like it was still alive, but that it's back legs/spine was broken (that part wasn't moving at all). I really didn't want anything to do with this rat. My neighbor called her other neighbor to see if he could come help us, but he told us we should do it ourselves. Let me pause here to say that while I consider myself self-sufficient and a feminist, there are some things I am HAPPY to let other people do for me. This is one of those things.

So, I realized we would have to take care of it ourselves. So, I brought Sam back to our house, put him inside and got a shovel and a garbage bag. I was pretty sure that I was going to have to dispatch the rat since it seemed it was the last thing my neighbor wanted to do.

I don't like the idea of killing a mammal. For some reason, killing insects (flies, bees, spiders) doesn't bother me at all. But to kill a mammal is tough. I knew that this guy was probably in quite a bit of pain, and he certainly wasn't going to limp off to die in a hole somewhere. So, I steeled myself for what I had to do.

The problem is, I don't know if the rat was in a bad spot on the ground but after hitting him with the shovel a couple of times, he wasn't dead yet. That was the hardest part. It certainly would have been easier if he had died on the first hit. But to know that I have been hitting him and he is not dead just hurt my heart (even though he is a rat).

I did my best to hit him a couple more times. Finally he stopped blinking and moving and I saw blood coming out of his ear. This is disgusting. Don't forget I warned you that this would be disgusting and graphic. The last thing I wanted to see was blood.

I shoveled him into the garbage bag I brought and then my neighbor got another garbage bag and we double bagged him.

That is not something I have ever done before, and I hope that I never have to do it again. My neighbor called me her she-ro. I certainly didn't feel like one. I went home, cleaned the blood off my shovel and put it away.