Asking for Chipmunk Poison?!?!

[napalmtheory]

I work at a hardware store. There, we sell 'pest' control, like mouse traps, humane traps, and, sadly, poisons. As I was walking through the store, I saw a man looking around, a bit confused, so I put on my biggest smile and said to him, as I approached, "May I help you?" He said yes, and asked me what poison would be best to kill chipmunks.

I was floored. I asked his situation with the chipmunks, knowing chipmunks like to burrow into foundations, and he said one had made it's nest in his new landscaping, and he wanted 'to be rid of it.' I was immediately upset, but not outwardly. He asked if we had some sort of 'special poison' designed for chipmunks. Wanted something that would kill them, and possibly anything that might try to eat it. I suggested a humane trap (a small trap big enough for a chipmunk) and he said no, he wanted it dead and something that would be hands off. I quickly handed him off to a coworker. I was almost in tears.

WHAT THE HELL!?!

[gas4]

Wow that's messed up. Isn't it awful when people just can't see the life and individuality in an animal (I wanted to say soul but I'm not I believe in souls). I remember the very moment when I first realized that animals were alive just like me. I was holding my guinea pig, I must have been about 5 and it suddenly occured to me. I remember being amazed, holding this tiny little life, I felt so responsible for it. It's one of my favourite memories.
Good thing my parents got me a guinea pig I guess. Otherwise I might have been trying to buy poison right now instead of posting on a veg*n website.

[animallover7249]

Wow, I can't imagine what I would do in that situation, probably would get myself fired.

I don't understand why it has to be dead? I hink live traps (not sure if they are, but if not they should be) cheaper then poision. This was it will make up for the "hands on activity" they have to perform to remove the trapped animal from their property, and it will look better to some people that just "want it dead".


Sorry if that didnt make since. Im not saying i agree with people thinking they should be dead..but people are going to think that any way and its easier and more effective to try to make ethnic choices appealing to them for what they need then to try and change their views...

[Tom]

That's bad. Most people don't have such hostile attitudes toward chipmunks.

Napalmtheory, I wouldn't suggest a live trap to such a person because I'd be afraid the person would just kill the chipmunk anyway- possibly more cruelly than with poison. Maybe you could go to your state's wildlife management or conservation agency for suggestions on nuisance wildlife control. Not all of what they suggest will be AR-acceptable, but some of it probably will be. The next time someone comes asking for such advice, you could suggest only the animal-friendly ways of dealing with them you learned.

[veggiewriter]

Yikes. This person's attitude is what I was afraid of for my local little chipmunk friends. I suppose this is exactly why I shouldn't feed them---if they learn to approach people like that, they may likely meet a cruel demise. Just gives me the shudders. And makes me angry. Poor little chipmunks.

[Bonoluvr]

oh that would upset me too. we have a ton of chipmunks all over our property, we live in the country, they were here first.......LOL.....they have their little nests all over, they dont bother us, we try not to bother them........( although we had that incident from my other post).........my kids love watching them scamper! i would never dream to poisen them!
oh and when we called someone to get the flying squirrels out of our attic i suggested a humane trap, they said they could do that but by law they then had to kill them!!!!!! and he also offered that he drowns them!!!!!!!!! WTF??? why bother to humanely catch them if you are just going to kill them????? of course i sent him away,

[peace]

We have a local wildlife columnist in the newspaper. Someone wrote in looking for advice on what to do about chipmunks. He specifically denounced humane traps and told them to get snap-traps for rodents instead.
Some people have a "kill" attitude about everything, and think every issue calls for a shotgun solution.

[kpickell]

I would tell him that the rodent poisens available are a danger to other animals too, including cats, and that he could have a lawsuit on his hands if he kills someone's pet, which is why everyone recommends using live traps with animals such as chipmunks.

Now, I don't know if any of that is true, but sometimes you have to bull**** your way out of situations.

[napalmtheory]

it just upset me because he just didn't see that tiny, furry, eating, breathing, annoying, cute, creature as something alive. Do all people see animals as something mechanical that moves around on this earth to amuse, feed, and irritate us?

Perhaps a pre-vegan realization. I don't know. I just..couldn't grasp his point of view.

[Amy SF]

Unfortunately, there are quite a few people who think of most rodents as nothing more than nuisances and pests, and as lives not worth saving. I believe it's the same mentality as ranchers who think of prairie dogs, wolves and coyotes (animals who were there before the ranchers came) as simply pests who threaten their land and their ranch animals and "have to be" destroyed.

If it makes you feel any better, I'm reminded of an episode of Married with Children (seriously!) in which a mouse invades the Bundy house, and Al is determined to trap it himself, even if it means destroying the house in the process. At the end of the episode, he finally catches the mouse, but his wife takes one look, falls in love with it and wants it as a pet. When the episode ends, they're in bed, and Al has to turn and look at the mouse on his nightstand, racing about in a cage. It's a strange episode for that kind of series, which is why I remember it.

[Scythe]

it just upset me because he just didn't see that tiny, furry, eating, breathing, annoying, cute, creature as something alive.

I think the idea is that he wants it un-alive, not that he thinks it's a robot.

[lauratiara]

I would tell him that the rodent poisens available are a danger to other animals too, including cats, and that he could have a lawsuit on his hands if he kills someone's pet, which is why everyone recommends using live traps with animals such as chipmunks.

Now, I don't know if any of that is true, but sometimes you have to bull**** your way out of situations.

I like this approach.

[janie]

I would tell him that the rodent poisens available are a danger to other animals too, including cats, and that he could have a lawsuit on his hands if he kills someone's pet, which is why everyone recommends using live traps with animals such as chipmunks.

Now, I don't know if any of that is true, but sometimes you have to bull**** your way out of situations.


I like this approach.

I second that. :up: I probably wouldn't be quick enough to come up with something that good, though. I would've been in tears also, napalmtheory. :sick:

[Irizary]

It's strange that he said he also wants the poison to kill any"thing" that tries to eat the chipmunk (at least that's how your post reads). That a-hole really wants everything dead.

[otomik]

"oh you know what would actually be better than poison? a landmine."

I have this chipmunk problem, I trap them and release them at this park down the road but they keep coming back, I think the whole nut burying thing lends them to having decent direction sense. They like to dig up my herb garden and take big nutty ****s everywhere, kind of annoying. Another reason why this guy might be asking for poison is because what I'm doing, relocating them, is illegal.