On 29/04/2014 16:20, Sacha wrote:
On 2014-04-29 14:33:51 +0000, P Jameson said:

"Martin Brown" wrote in message
...
On 29/04/2014 14:30, P Jameson wrote:

just caught a tiny field mouse with a very bad limp slowly making
its way
across our lawn at lunch time.

Raptors have to eat too! They are obligate carnivores.

whats the kindest thing to do with it? a while ago i rang rspca
about a fox
in a cemetary with a very bad leg, and they just said it would have
to take
its chances.

i dont mind feeding the mouse, but keeping it in a carboard box...
is that
the kindest option?

Be aware that if it escapes from your makeshift cage it will repay
you by gnawing through the insulation on your electric cables.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


i did say the kindest

The thing is that what seems to us the kindest may well be to the animal
the most stressful and least kind. Shutting a wild creature up in a box
isn't kind to it but it makes us feel better! Leave it to its own
devices and tuck it into the back of some thick overgrowth where a
predator won't easily spot it. Some animals die from the stress of
captivity.




Sadly, the others are right. It would very quickly eat through a
cardboard box, anyway. If you want to give it the best chance, give it
a digestive biscuit or similar so it doesn't have to hunt for a while
and, as Sacha says, find it a sheltered hidey hole where it can rest for
a while. I suspect nature will take its course, but you will have done
your best for it.

--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay