10/11/2022
"I died today and here is why:
I wandered into your garden, you had lots of food laying around for the birds, far more than they could eat, so I thought, “I’m hungry I'll just have a nibble.” I came back the next day and the next; you kept putting lots of food out for me.
Then you noticed me.
“Ewww! A dirty rat!” I heard you say. The next thing I know a man comes along with boxes. I heard him telling you all the harm I will do if he doesn’t kill me, all the diseases I supposedly carry. In reality I would never have done you any harm. Think about it – how many people do you know that have caught anything from me? But I ate the poison; I didn’t feel well; my tummy began to hurt; I felt ill; my agony intensified. Then five days later, I died.
I heard you saying someone had poisoned a cat and how cruel it was, but you have just poisoned me, how is that different? I'm not anyone's pet but I feel pain, I suffer, so why is ok for me to suffer this way? Your actions did not only affect me, Mrs. owl caught my poisoned brother and fed him to her babies. Now they are all slowly dying, because of you!
If you didn't want me there the answer was simple, take away the food supply, clean up your mess and I won't bother you. I would have just moved on. The man with boxes says I must die, but he gets lots of money from killing my kind.
So what happens now? I'm gone, you'll keep putting the food out and my friends will move in, the whole cycle will start again. Think before you put poison down—it is cruel, it is unnecessary, it is dirty."
