+ Life | Rat Trap

Now this is something I questioned myself before, but I did not give myself an answer. Instead, I just think I should not do it at all.

Like on normal days at work, a group of us would go to the canteen to have our breakfast. A friend spotted a rat in the middle of the car park.

It was like in a daze, falling sideways as it tried to move into the bushes. Apparently, it must have been poisoned.

I thought nothing of it. We took our breakfast, talked and joked a little and headed back to the office once we had finished.

On the way, I saw 2 metal-wired rat trap cages at the dumping area. In each was a rat. Frantically pacing to and fro trying to get out of the cage. The baits ware still hanging in the cages.

Now, this is my dilemma... Rats are bad for human health. They are pests and bring diseases, while they irritate you and scare most women.

Now, rat population has to be controlled to not infest our homes and properties, so we kill rats by setting up traps and poison them. Alright...

Once you catch them, how do you "put them down" humanely... if that is the most politically correct phrase for it.

The rats I saw in the cages were left outside in the hot sun to die. It is the worst death sentence possible, I think. To torture them to exhaustion, dehydrate them slowly until they die.

That is the most slowest and most painful of a killing method I can possible think of. Maybe it is just me, but it seems too cruel for me.

I know I will not give a second thought when I have to crush a cockroach, but it has to die immediately, with the least amount of pain possible.

I could not bare to look at the panting rats further and walked away. My lady friend squirmed in fright and walked quickly away.

I just had to ask my the group what was the best, humanely possible way to kill a rat once caught.


One said to knock its head or bashed it to death, and other said to drown it in water, one even said his mother poured boiling water over it. Wow!

I have heard of these methods before. When I was a child, I had seen one "death by drowning" case by a neighbour too, which I could not bare to watch then either.

I am not the one to trap any, so I leave it the pest-busters if necessary. Hope I do not have an infestation of such in my home. I am putting too much thought in this, nonetheless, I need to ask.

So, is poisoning them the best way?

Or is there a fastest, most humanely possible way to kill rats once you catch them?