Every so often, I’d find a mouse in my home in Arlington, thoughtfully brought to me by my cats. On several occasions, I spent my night awake trying desperately to catch a frightened field mouse; when I did, I carried it across the street to the woods and let it go.
I tend to be very concerned about animals and their welfare — I even was squeamish about exterminating the ants that were infesting my new house — and yet, I’m not vegan. Go figure.
Anyway, it cheers me up to read news like this:
A mouse got its revenge against a homeowner who tried to dispose of it in a pile of burning leaves. The blazing creature ran back to the man’s house and set it on fire.
Luciano Mares, 81, of Fort Sumner said he caught the mouse inside his house and wanted to get rid of it.
“I had some leaves burning outside, so I threw it in the fire, and the mouse was on fire and ran back at the house,” Mares said from a motel room Saturday.
Village Fire Chief Juan Chavez said the burning mouse ran to just beneath a window, and the flames spread up from there and throughout the house.
No was hurt inside, but the home and everything in it was destroyed.
That bastard deserved it. He could have dropped the mouse outside and let it live its life, but instead he felt some need to be cruel to it. Can you imagine how horrifying it must be to be thrown in a fire? Why do people do such things?
(Plus, of course, he was an idiot for burning leaves in his yard in the first place.)
Update: it turns out that this story was embellished. He actually killed the mouse himself before throwing it in the fire. Sad. Meanwhile, it turns out that it was just his burning leaves that caused the fire — again, an idiot.
