Cage trap dilemma

[Grassman]

How do you despatch a trapped animal?
I am talking rats and rabbits.
Really trying to get away from poisoning but what is the best way of finishing the job?

 

[Gong Farmer]

Air rifle is the most common way. Head shot will dispatch efficiently.

 

[Campani]

I use an air rifle. if you make a comb-type piece of wood you can use it to trap the animal up in the corner. without the comb, it can be surprisingly difficult to get a good shot in the cage.

 

[Princess Pooper]

Rats - attach a rope to one end of the cage. Dunk and drown in a drum of water. Rabbits neck or shoot.

 

[Brisel]

Frangible round, if you can get them. It's basically a shotgun cartridge with steel dust instead of pellets. No chance of ricochet and has a very short range but will drill a barrel shaped hole in your target at close range i.e. less than 3".

 

[TripleSix]

Rats - attach a rope to one end of the cage. Dunk and drown in a drum of water. Rabbits neck or shoot.

It is actually against the law to drown animals, causes unnecessary suffering...

Shooting is really the only legal option other than releasing them 40 miles away.

 

[unlacedgecko]

It is actually against the law to drown animals, causes unnecessary suffering...

Shooting is really the only legal option other than releasing them 40 miles away.

I agree on drowning.

However, DEFRA recommended method for small mammal despatch is blunt force trauma.

Release into a bag then club the head basically.

Personally I'd use blunt force for rats and manual neck dislocation for rabbits.

 

[som farmer]

saw a recommendation for despatching deer, presumably a car hit, put a plastic bag over its head. Bit gruesome, but if you are in your car, nothing to hand, reasonable i think. Rats as p/pooper suggests, rabbits neckjob.

 

[unlacedgecko]

saw a recommendation for despatching deer, presumably a car hit, put a plastic bag over its head. Bit gruesome, but if you are in your car, nothing to hand, reasonable i think. Rats as p/pooper suggests, rabbits neckjob.

No no no.

Contact the police who will call out the duty stalker.

Or, if you're certain the deer is immobile/small enough to restrain and you know what you're doing, use a knife.

 

[Brisel]

Ball pein hammer in the forehead. Instantly dead deer.

 

[tinsheet]

Jack Russell.

 

[egbert]

Jack Russell.

beat me to it.
If we've got rats in the cage, we'll call the dogs and let em go in the middle of the yard.
Collies dick about, young terriers grab one and spend precious seconds shaking it.
Old terrier bitch is the one...focused, doesn't waste a move. Swiftly bites one at a time, and moves onto the next.
Bit like watching an old time served tree feller.

 

[Bald Rick]

All a bit bloodthirsty this ...
Nothing wrong with a bit of live and let live unless they really are at plague proportions in which case they are often self limiting

Starlings on the other hand ...

 

[Grassman]

All a bit bloodthirsty this ...
Nothing wrong with a bit of live and let live unless they really are at plague proportions in which case they are often self limiting

Starlings on the other hand ...

Far from it actually. We are overrun with rabbits and a few rats. I'm trying to get to a position where no poison is used as we have a few owls living around the yard.
I won't kill anything unless I need to and just want to find the most humane way of finishing them off.
Drowning is too cruel I think.

 

[Kidds]

Drowning is too cruel I think.

I honestly think it is the least cruel. Trying to shoot the captive is terrifying for the victim and grabbing hold of whatever it is to knock it on the head or wring its neck no better.
Against the law and all that so you can't do it legally etc but not only the least cruel but the easiest and quickest most especially for a squirrel in a cage trap. I think shooting them is much more cruel than drowning them.
Having been shot and having had a near death experience with drowning if I had to choose it would be drowning every time. Painless and relatively calm.

 

[Paddington]

Bit of four b' two.

 

[Grassman]

Bit of four b' two.

Yes but I want to reuse the trap

 

[steveR]

Far from it actually. We are overrun with rabbits and a few rats. I'm trying to get to a position where no poison is used as we have a few owls living around the yard.
I won't kill anything unless I need to and just want to find the most humane way of finishing them off.
Drowning is too cruel I think.

I will not use poison and haven't for a good few years. Like you, we have a lot of owls about but sadly, not many can take this approach.

I prefer Fenn traps put in a run for rats.

 

[Brisel]

Before frangible rounds were available, the Randomised Badger Cull Trial trappers used to use a shotgun with ordinary number 6 or 7 cartridges from a shortish distance to despatch the animal. It's pretty instant death for the prey even if a little hairy for the shooter should a pellet ricochet and not great for the longevity of the traps!

 

[Grassman]

Release into a bag then club the head basically.

That sounds like the best idea. A hessian sack may be ideal.