Do you know that situation? You're all alone, and suddenly you catch a movement from the corner of your eye. You turn to look and there's nothing. You laugh a bit at yourself and that's that. But what if there actually is something? In my case, there was something. It was small, grey, had whiskers and adorable little bug-eyes - a mouse. We both got a start, when I loudly exclaimed something that rhymes with "duck", and it scampered off.

Of course, I had noticed its presence before. It left clues. Not only did it ruin a perfectly good new sack of rice, and contaminated a chocolate stash, it also destroyed my favourite canvas handbag to get to the chocolate inside, and used bits of my favourite pashmina to make a nest for itself. At least the mouse has good taste, but that didn't stop me from plotting its death. Only, the traditional traps didn't work. In fact, the mouse showed its disdain for such methods by leaving droppings on one, after eating the peanut butter that was the bait.

The solution seemed clear: we needed a cat. Alas, our rental agreement allows hamsters and other small, caged animals only. Not to mention that we live next to a busy road. And then, there's the fact that my partner and I are dog-people. We have nothing against cats, we just prefer dogs. Getting a cat was out of the question. So, I suggested that we "borrow" one, for a bit. One of my friends recently adopted an adorable tiny kitten. I thought that if we borrowed it for a few days, the mouse would get the idea.

My friend laughed at the idea, agreed that her flat was mouse-free ever since the kitty arrived, and pointed out that the kitty was a bit too young to be lent out. And then she told me about how she got her kitten. My friend recently moved into her first own flat. Being her own landlord, she gave herself permission to have a kitten, and consulted the ads in the local paper. So many people were trying to home kittens. She called the number that came with the first ad and was slightly intrigued that the owners of the kittens insisted on what amounted to a character reference. Thinking that they were simply conscientious pet-owners, she complied. Then the sellers asked to meet her in person, before they would consider handing a kitten to her. 

It all seemed reasonable to my friend, until the sellers apologized to her for the hassle. They'd done all of that to ensure that my friend wasn't just buying kittens for dog-baiting. Wait, what?!? My friend was shocked, and so was I, when she learned that people who are into illegal dog-fighting use kittens and puppies to train their dogs. Dog-fighting is illegal in the UK, but it still happens. The sellers of my friend's kitten just wanted to be careful, because

Quote

A dog-fighter stated

"The hardest thing is to get enough dogs and cats to use as bait during training. One good source is to check the local newspapers for ads that offer a pet dog or cat for free. My wife dresses up neatly and collects them for me. If that source is running dry, I just hire some local gang kids to fetch me dogs and cats. They scour the backyards and alleys and take whatever number of animals we need. They make sure that they leave the doors or gates open, so people just believe that they accidentally left them unlatched and that's how their animals got out and got lost."

Source: http://www.examiner.com/article/dog-fighters-use-free-and-stolen-cats-and-dogs-as-bait-to-train-their-dogs

While this is an American site, there are also plenty of UK newspapers that have reported on the phenomenon. And the bolded is what my friend's kitten-sellers must have been afraid of. Here's another article, from the Daily Fail albeit, which states that using kittens as dog-bait has been forbidden in the UK since 1835: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2064664/Cat-coursing-Cats-snatched-streets-gangs-dogs-tear-pieces.html

But apparently, dog-fighting is big underground, criminal business. And a missing cat or an unwanted kitten won't get investigated by the police. I'd say it's understandable that police resources don't stretch that far, and instead focus on trying to root out dog-fighting rings. But it makes my head and my heart ache. Not only for the cats, kittens and puppies that get mauled, but also for the dogs in the fight. Being a dog person, it makes me furious to think that puppies systematically get brutalized for sport. For nothing.

It made me sick to find out about kittens and puppies being used as dog-bait, to teach other dogs fighting. Animals aren't the beasts in this, humans are. Animals don't fight and kill for the sake of it, they do it for food and survival. To use those instincts and brutalize them for sport is reprehensible! It made me want to adopt a kitten as well, to save it from the possibility of such a fate. But there's that rental agreement...

Instead, I got rid of the traditional mouse-traps. My partner and I have mouse-proofed the kitchen already, but the mouse is clearly still here. My recent encounter proves that. It's a bit silly to get sentimental over a mouse that has ruined my best scarf and my favourite handbag, but hey, it's a mouse. Its understanding of why we were irritated is probably extremely limited, so we can't fault the mouse for it. So, I bought humane mouse-traps. Maybe that'll work.  I also think that maybe the mouse isn't the issue any longer. It made me aware of a larger issue. While there is little I can do to stop organised crime, I can tell others about this and caution. Perhaps that's why the mouse deserves to live?

On the other hand, who am I kidding? I am doing this to make myself feel better by making a small change. There is very little I can do against organised crime. All I'm really doing is trying to control something that I can control to make myself feel less helpless. At least the mouse will live, I suppose.