Mice are really cute. They have adorable white bellies and sniffy whiskers and big shiny eyes. I got to see LOTS of them in the last apartment I lived in.
I tried implementing a relocation program using nonlethal traps. I'm not sure if there really were over 50 mice in my place, or if it was just the same two or three coming back over and over again... but I caught mice every day; sometimes several a day. I felt especially terrible in the winter time, walking out across the snowy back yard and depositing them near some woodpile, knowing they were just trying to enjoy the cozy warmth and all-you-can-eat dog bowl buffet in my home. But they were camping out in my stove, leaving poop everywhere, chewing through boots and boxes...
One day I released a mouse near a fencepost -- it ran straight up the post, and then stopped at the top, staring me down. We stared at each other for what seemed ages.
I was even able to snap a photo.
I find it a haunting image. This mouse is looking into me... what does it want to say? Is it happy that I didn't kill it? Is it terrified and angry that I took it away from its home and family?
If only we could sit down and talk.