Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie

We have been dealing with mice. I think they got the impression that the house was theirs since we've been gone so much. Ellen has been finding droppings in various drawers, cupboard shelves, etc., places that there seems to be no particular thing that would attract a mouse. So I got out the have-a-heart traps. We have two kinds. One is sort of delicate - the bait has to be placed just right so that the trap entrance is flush to the floor and when the mouse enters, it tilts back and that causes the door to drop down, trapping the mouse inside. I haven't caught anything with that one yet. The other one is more boxy, and has two entrances, each with a ramp that is spring activated - so when the mouse enters the ramp, attracted by the smell of the bait, the ramp easily gives way but then when the mouse steps off inside the box, it springs up, barring exit. I've caught two so far.  When I catch a mouse, I take it across the river to a place in West Dummerston and release it. The problem is that I can hear it rummaging around in the trap in the middle of the night, and that wakes me up.  There is always the chance the mouse can find its way out of the trap - it is not 100% foolproof. So in the past I've actually gotten up and driven it to W. Dummerston at, e.g., 4 a.m. But now we have a new system - I get up and put the trap in a sealed box which is escape-proof, and then take it to W. Dummerston in the morning. But this may be stressful for the mouse (thus the quote from Robert Burns):

Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie,
O, what a pannic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi' bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,
Wi' murd'ring pattle!

I'm truly sorry man's dominion,
Has broken nature's social union,
An' justifies that ill opinion,
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion,
An' fellow-mortal!

I doubt na, whiles, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen icker in a thrave
'S a sma' request;
I'll get a blessin wi' the lave,
An' never miss't!

Thy wee bit housie, too, in ruin!
It's silly wa's the win's are strewin!
An' naething, now, to big a new ane,
O' foggage green!
An' bleak December's winds ensuin,
Baith snell an' keen!

Thou saw the fields laid bare an' waste,
An' weary winter comin fast,
An' cozie here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwell-
Till crash! the cruel coulter past
Out thro' thy cell.

Thy wee bit heap o' leaves an' stibble,
Has cost thee mony a weary nibble!
Now thou's turn'd out, for a' thy trouble,
But house or hald,
To thole the winter's sleety dribble,
An' cranreuch cauld!

But, Mousie, thou art no thy-lane,
In proving foresight may be vain;
The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!

Still thou art blest, compar'd wi' me
The present only toucheth thee:
But, Och! I backward cast my e'e.
On prospects drear!
An' forward, tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!

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I actually wonder if a trap that kills instantly might be more humane than the so-called "have-a-heart" trap. But if Burns is right, the mouse lives entirely in the present and may not be that unhappy sitting in the trap - it does have food (the bait), which had been completely consumed when I released it. But I also don't know what I've separated it from by removing it from the house (like babies maybe?), or what I'm introducing it to in its new home in West Dummerston (new predators?). Anyway, it has the possibility of a new life. Good luck, mousie!</sup>

Mousie coming out of the have-a-heart trap.