Remorse

I've killed animals before. But for some reason, I feel bad about this most recent of my victims;

I just killed one. It was bedding in my parrot's cage, so I grabbed it and stood for a few minutes thinking what I should do. I would have lt it go, but it would be able to get back in the house if I threw it outside. I thought about flushing it down the toilet, but it wasn't dead and mice are very good swimmers. I thought about this, the whole time my parrot saying,
"Hey buuuud....Hey buuuuuud...! *wolf whistles*"
I was pissed off at the mouse. It was living in my bird's cage! The parrot alone is worth over $1500. To think that a mouse, if bought in a pet store, would only set me back $8-10! There was no way I'd let a feral mouse get such an expensive parrot sick. No fucking way. I looked at it as I held it (more like I had it pinned to the bottom of the cage by pinching it between some newspaper).
I stopped thinking and crushed it...and then I felt guilt. Was it the tactile sensation of ending an animal's life? Was it the fact that this was an obviously pregnant mouse? Or was it because over the past month and a half I've been killing its relatives one by one and it was the final piece of the puzzle?
Perhaps I'm not feeling guilt, but relief at the fact that I don't need to worry about mouse crap in my bread. Regardless, my heart sank in my chest when I stated thinking again. Oh well.
You guys probably think it's weird of me to post this here, on a forum...yes, it is. But this is Terra Arcanum, and I'm curious as to what this makes you all think.

 

It was just a freaking animal, don't get into any philosophical bullshit because of this.

 

Well, animals have lives to....
Even thou it's bad to get all quilty for killing a mouse, It dosn't have to be.

If you have a reason killing them, Like they are trying to kill you $1500 parrot and crapping in your bread, go ahead, squeeze 'em if you wan't to.

But if it's for sports, It's quite sad.

 

It was just a mouse, don't think about it. I doubt that you wouldn't have done this with your parrot?

 

Yeah, that was a huge WTF.

Gross, it was just a rat. I would have killed the parrot.

 

Mmmm KFP...

Anyway, it is a small tragedy when something dies, but from a strictly philosophical point of view, death is an inevitable state that life must invariably concede to. While it's not pleasant, all things die, this was no exception, and while you are fully justified in disliking your role as one specific gear in the great cycle of life, it is merely that, so don't let it get you too down.

 

What, I thought that I made myself very clear there. Maybe I wasn't. But ahh, you understand what I meant now?

 

You capitalist pig!

 

What? No, I'm a Commie, a damn red one too.

 

Well, our dollar isn't what it used to be...but are you talking about pet mice or mice as pet food?

Do you mean that, given any other circumstance, I would not have killed the mouse? I would've killed it regardless, but the fact that it was living in my bird's "house" brought a certain, "Catch it now, kill it now," necessity. Otherwise, I would've let it get caught on one of several traps and killed it when I found it.
I didn't feel bad for the last few mice (and animals) I killed because I shot them with an air rifle (or bow for larger game). I felt this one's heart beat, felt it trying to breathe as I crushed it. I probably shouldn't have left my Buck Knife in my room...though, cleaning blood off of anything is a chore. Except for maybe teflon-coated cookware.

No you wouldn't. Not if it was yours.

 

No, I meant like, that you would never have to kill your parrot. If you get what I mean.

 

Yeah, but I have to say, it was a very asinine way of asking that question...
I can't kill that bird. She's just three years younger than I am, and she'll probably live longer than I will. It's actually hard to think of her as a bird, considering she can't fly (she never learned how) and she mimics speech. She's like a toddler, and I'll be damned if I kill a toddler.

 

She's good at talking? Cool, can she like talk flueing?

 

Bree, why would I call you a capitalist? You're not the one in this thread who decides who gets to live depending on what they cost, are you?

 

Oh, right...eh, I feel kinda stupid now.

 

Last time I killed a mouse, I cornered it in the back of a shelf and smashed it with an A-1 Steaksauce bottle.

 

Hey now, I remember you telling a certain Steampunk whether or not he could come back as Hell-whatever if he gave you money. While not as stern as a life or death decision, you still determined its outcome by monetary value.
What I meant was, if a mouse gets such an expensive pet sick, of what worth is the expensive pet? To prevent doubt in my parrot, I killed the mouse.

 

An etchic question: If the mouse and the parrot had the same cost, wich one would you kill?