Is it normal to be disgusted by people who remove rats with poison?

i love rats, i used to have one as a pet (would love to get another one to) but domesticated and feral rats are completely different, i do have sympathy for the lil dudes and if possible i would prefer to live catch a feral rat instead of poisoning/trapping, but it takes time, effort, and fuel depending on how far you want to drop them off where they wouldn't be able to disturb another house.

some of them also carry diseases and can chew through wires and such, which can be dangerous for both the rat and the household. if there was a rat in my house i would spend a week trying to live catch it, but unfortunately when that doesn't work i will start laying out traps that would humanely kill the rat in the most quick and painless way.

Just post your address and everyone will live-trap all their rats and send them to you.

Rats are very intelligent, no matter if they make our hair stand on end or not, so it is a shame to poison them. I knew a guy who didn't like rats, but he was determined to trap one that he had in his house live. He just didn't want to kill anything. You cannot compare rats or mice with bugs, they're MAMMALS, for God's sake. And even insects and spiders I will save if possible, I will try to anyway. Life is life, we're too quick to kill as humans and it's really disturbing.

I believe you are absolutely correct. Speciesism is one of the gravest indictments against humanity. But we humans aren't "moral animals." We're reasoning animals who happen to build moral codes, and unfortunately, at the root of our moral codes tends to be a rabid prejudice in favor of our own group. This allows otherwise "good" people to condone hellish acts--even participate in them. Factor in human beings' native selfishness and you get morality very, very often being an enabling mechanism of what feels good for the individual or the group, even when there are far less destructive alternatives available.

I admire your reasoning. Human beings like you, unfortunately, are in every generation in the minority.

So you're more concerned about rats than the babies they bite to death? I find that disgusting.

http://cdn.deccanchronicle.com/sites/default/files/dead-baby-guntur-hospital_0_0_0_0_0.jpg

Poison is usually a last resort. For one, people know it causes suffering. Then it dies in your walls somewhere. And it could poison other animals. People aren't all that stupid. Other methods of removal are more popular.

The thing is, rats are unfortunately disease carriers and are responsible for a decent amount of health issues and property damages. What you're basically doing, by trapping and releasing rats in a nonlethal way, is saying, "These rats were my problem, but instead of taking care of the problem, I'm just going to transfer the problem to someone else."

Just a few released rats can quickly turn into hundreds.

And how do you deal with bugs?

Personally, I don't use poison because the little buggers go hide and die, and the rancid odour of decaying rodent is offensive to me. So I use traps - just as lethal, probably more humane (they die faster), and I can dispose of the body in the garbage.

Oh, and as for the dog eating thing, why not - it's protein. I mean I wouldn't go kill my neighbour's mutt because I wanted a dog-burger, but if I was in China and it was served to me, I'd eat it. I think I may have eaten dog in Malaysia once, wasn't too bad - although a little stronger tasting than I expected.