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glue traps

i think glue traps might be inhumane

traps for mice i mean

we saw a mouse in the house, so off i went to the store for traps

i didn’t make an informed buying decision

“get the glue ones,” she said

i set them out, i asked how to release the mice

vegetable oil can free the adhesive

okay, cool

two days later, one of the traps went missing

i tracked it down

the mouse had managed to run under the closet door from clear across the living room

it was dead

its body was twisted, its fur matted

it looked withered

i figured the glue must be highly toxic

this morning, another trap went missing

i found it in the middle of the kitchen floor

the mouse was panting and looking up at me

i walked out of the room to study up

see what my options were

live-capture in the best cases still requires you to kill the mouse

because they have a strong homing instinct and will return if you don’t take them far enough away

i scooped the trap into a dustpan

walked out to the driveway

and bludgeoned its skull apart with one swift blow from my wrench

then, in the trash it went

in a way, he was lucky

he hadn’t gnawed his feet off like some do when caught in glue

or worse, hadn’t had his feet gnawed off by his fellows

i will run out the rest of the glue traps, because i did pay for them and all

but i think i will go to snap traps next

Honeybees Trained to Find Land Mines

Mirjana Filipovic is still haunted by the land mine blast that killed her boyfriend and blew off her left leg while on a fishing trip nearly a decade ago. It happened in a field that was supposedly de-mined.

Now, unlikely heroes may be coming to the rescue to prevent similar tragedies: sugar-craving honeybees. Croatian researchers are training them to find unexploded mines littering their country and the rest of the Balkans.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/05/honeybees-trained-find-land-mines

Rats help Colombia sniff out deadly landmines

reuters.com

In a laboratory on the grounds of a police-guarded complex, 11 white-furred rats wait their turn to impress trainers and perhaps receive a bit of sugar as reward.

The rodents could play an important role in making conflict-wracked Colombia safer. They are in the final stages of a training program to find landmines that kill or injure hundreds of people each year in Colombia.

The government project, which began in 2006, trains specially bred rats to detect the metals used in landmines, thousands of which have been laid during the country’s decades-long conflict with left-wing guerrillas.

United Nations: Hundreds of thousands displaced in Syrian conflict

  • 30,000 people have fled Syria over the months-long unrest which has led to the deaths of thousands
  • 200,000 people have fled their homes but remain in Syria, according to United Nations estimates source

» An ongoing exodus? “On a daily basis hundreds of people are still crossing into neighbouring countries,” according to the UN’s refugee coordinator for Syria, Panos Moumtzis, who says the estimates could actually be much higher than estimated. In related news, Human Rights Watch has called on Syria to stop laying landmines, calling them ”militarily ineffective” devices that will be dangerous for decades to come.

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Somaliland: Mine Action & Armed Violence Reduction

This Case-Study reviews the work in Somaliland of the Danish Demining Group (DDG), which first started mine clearance operations in 1999 to reduce the impact of Mines and Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) on affected communities.

DDG’s Community Safety Programme in Somaliland is one of the first programmes implemented by a mine/ERW operator which is dramatically different from a standard mine clearance programme. It is based on a community-driven, participatory methodology to promote community safety, which has evolved and adapted to local needs over time. It is a positive example of evidence-based programming: DDG designed the programme in response to the findings of several assessments and surveys conducted on community safety in Somaliland.

           

As with pilots and new programmes, there are areas that can be strengthened and the DDG team has proven receptive to suggestions that enhance the impact of their programme. Apart from expanding the programme to include district level activities, plans in 2012 include conducting a survey to assess the impact of the programme on livelihoods in target communities. Given the extent to which land and access to natural resources is a key driver of conflict in Somaliland, support will also be provided to ensure that the CSP is mainstreaming land rights and conflict sensitivity. In addition, DDG will conduct impact assessments on the more traditional spot EOD activities. This activity focuses on clearing privately owned domestically held stockpiles of ERW.

Related UN Resources: 

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