THE kindest way to kill a mouse is a sharp blow to the skull. In contrast, the classic spring-loaded mousetraps can be cruel, says a report from the UK’s Universities Federation for Animal Welfare, because they don’t always kill instantly. A study of US snap-traps showed in 2003 that rates of snagging just a tail or a leg ranged from 4 to 57 per cent. Poisoning or drowning suffer limitations too.
The federation laments that despite our ingenuity, humans have yet to invent a truly humane trap for rodent pests. “All the methods that are available at the moment have…
