Monday, July 28, 2008

feifel goes west


yesterday I was walking out of a parking structure when I noticed a little mouse by the steps where a lot of foot traffic happens. I thought when I walked near the mouse he would for sure run as fast as he could, but instead of running I noticed he was shaking a little bit and had a broken leg. I panicked and was uncertain about what to do as I had nothing on me but my purse and I honestly debated whether or not I should put the mouse in my purse and take him to the nearest pet hospital.

As I got closer to the mouse, I reached my hand out to pet him and was relieved when I noticed he calmed down a bit. After a few minutes of speaking softly to him and trying to maneuver him closer to a bush I got the courage to pick him up. As I picked him up i looked closely to his little face and I could tell he was scared. As I started to move him into the bush a woman saw that I had him in my hand and started screaming. I mean really going for it screaming.

Now, this woman was about 230 lbs 5'10 and clearly much larger than this little mouse but nonetheless her scream was strong enough to scare the little guy and upon his fear of her scream he bit me. I was completely shocked at this bite that my hands without thinking shook him out of my hands and he fell to the floor.

When his little body hit the ground I could hear his little squeak and he seemed to appear dead. I immediately started to cry and I called davey. The mouse remained on the floor for a couple of minutes and I thought for certain I had killed this little baby. I finally saw a bit of life in him and decided I would try to pick him up with a napkin. I know this sounds quite stupid as I should have got a box or a bag, but I was thinking fast and was afraid that someone would certainly step on him or release their dogs on him.

The worst was yet to come as this monster of a man asked me if it was my mouse...

I know right, who brings their mouse to an oudoor mall only to allow it loose around a full parking structure with cars zooming past. when i told the man that the mouse was injured and that he was wild he said i should kill it, or drown it. I was totally repulsed with this beast of a man and refused to leave the mouse now at this point even with the bite starting to bleed on my hand.

When I noticed one of the workers in the mall I called upon her as I was hoping she could get me a small box or bag to put him in. My hope ceased when I realized that this woman did not speak a word of english. The man called upon her to dust the mouse into her dust pan. I watched her do it and I looked at her and begged her not to kill him. The man said 'are you crazy? that mouse needs to be killed! all of these kids and dogs around...get rid of that filth.'

the fact that this man could look at this mouse which by now at this point had very little to no bite left literally, inside this little dust pan was just repulsive to me. the human race has more monsters than i once thought. i again looked at the mouse which now was looking up inside the dust pan to the mall worker with such fear in his eyes actually broke my heart.

what was meant to be a rescue mission has now turned terribly wrong and I am all to blame. I again looked at the woman and asked her to please put the mouse in the bushes and asked her to please not kill him. she shook her head in a way that at least i hope meant she wouldn't kill him, but i suppose i will never know. after the whole incident happened, i called my mom crying hysterically and was then told how stupid i am and how this 'animal rights' crap has gone too far. 'first it was not eating meat, then it was telling us all how sick we are for eating meat, and now this?'

i realized how foolish it is to pick up a wild rodent but that is just me i guess. i would do anything to stop animals from being killed regardless of what kind of animal they are. after my call to my mom i was urged to go to the hospital in which they treated my mouse bite with some bandages and a tetnus shot. thank god i didn't have to get a rabies shot, it turns out wild california mice do not carry rabies.

i can't get the image out of my head of that little mouse. i wish i could have taken him home with me. he was a little butter ball, a little baby...

1 comment:

Melissa said...

Aaaawww Lauren you are such a sweet and kind hearted person. I would of done the same exact thing. My daughter found a white mouse in the front yard about 2 months ago and my mom is scared to death of mice and kept telling me to give it to one of the cats to kill and I totally protested. So my daughter and I got a box and some provolone cheese, that he ate all up, and took him to a field and released him and just the other day I was hosing off my my mom's car and I accidently sprayed a one of those gorgeous green beetle flying bugs with the water and he fell to the ground. This horrified me and I picked him up, dried him off and put him in the sun to continue to dry off and made sure he was alright and sure enough he flew off. Later that day as I was on the computer in my room I heard a buzzing near my window, it was that same green beeatle bug flying near my window as to say Thank you for caring for him, at least I think it was the same green beetle bug. I do the same things with animals and bugs and spiders. There is a spider in my garage that I feed flys to that I catch in the house. My mom thinks I am stupid but it's just our caring and compassionate side to us. I to am an animal lover. Your story brought tears to my eyes becasue I truly know how you feel!!!!!!!!!!!! =)