I mean, in theory, a quarter mile is enough that they’ll either die, get killed, or otherwise not make it back to the same place.
But, being real, releasing mice is just a bad idea all around. They really aren’t good at being moved like that. They tend to be “lost” in the new area, and that’s just a slow death unless the site is super abundant in resources for them. If the site is abundant, then you’re dumping them into a place with a lot of competition, which is going to end up with something dead. Or, the little buggers just find a different human territory to move to, which is just putting the decision onto someone else.
It really is better to either live trap and kill humanely, or use kill traps. A quick death is better than the kind of death they’ll face in a new place. And, dumping them disturbs that location’s environmental balance, so it isn’t like you’re keeping things natural.
There’s just not a win/win with mice. There’s no way to control them without causing problems somewhere. The best option is to prevent them getting into anything you don’t want them in. Which ain’t easy, but it’s the least problematic solution overall.
I mean, in theory, a quarter mile is enough that they’ll either die, get killed, or otherwise not make it back to the same place.
But, being real, releasing mice is just a bad idea all around. They really aren’t good at being moved like that. They tend to be “lost” in the new area, and that’s just a slow death unless the site is super abundant in resources for them. If the site is abundant, then you’re dumping them into a place with a lot of competition, which is going to end up with something dead. Or, the little buggers just find a different human territory to move to, which is just putting the decision onto someone else.
It really is better to either live trap and kill humanely, or use kill traps. A quick death is better than the kind of death they’ll face in a new place. And, dumping them disturbs that location’s environmental balance, so it isn’t like you’re keeping things natural.
There’s just not a win/win with mice. There’s no way to control them without causing problems somewhere. The best option is to prevent them getting into anything you don’t want them in. Which ain’t easy, but it’s the least problematic solution overall.