Pests contaminate our food, damage buildings, and give us the creeps. They carry diseases, cause fire hazards, constantly reminding us to pay attention to sanitation and garbage control. However, despite all of this, some people refuse to trap, bait, and kill them.
Recently, Gheetan Chana made a Facebook post about the time he caught a mouse and decided to let it go. After the man described the conflicting feelings he experienced at the time, others started responding with similar stories of their own. Pretty soon, a wholesome discussion on the value of life emerged, and if that isn't the beauty of the internet, I don't know what is.
More info: Facebook
Image credits: Gheetan Chana
Interestingly, a species can be a pest in one area but beneficial or even domesticated in another (for example, when European rabbits were introduced to Australia, they started causing ecological damage beyond the scale they inflicted in their natural habitat). Many weeds are also valued under certain conditions but feared elsewhere, for instance, Patterson's curse is seen as food for honeybees and as a wildflower, even though it can and sometimes does poison livestock.
Here's what people said about these efforts
