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What to do with wild animals in our house? Say good-bye to them in a humane way!

Nov 29, 2021
Racoon in a tree

Make your home a haven of rest and peace. Be ye hospitable and let the doors of your home be open to the faces of friends and strangers. Welcome everyone with a smiling face and let them all feel that they are in my home.

– ‘Abdu’l-Baha, Star of the West, Volume 6, p. 20.

by Christine Muller

As temperatures are getting cooler, wild animals like to seek shelter in our houses. Mice and squirrels can be problematic in our homes because of noise and the potential threat of the transmission of diseases. Using sticky traps is inhumane – they cause much suffering for the animal. Rodenticides – poison – also causes suffering, and in addition is a threat to curious children and to the environment. So, what can we do? We can use ultrasonic repellers, unpleasant scents, for example peppermint oil, and live traps such as catch and release mouse traps. Say good-bye to them with a smile.

For more information including attractive baits, visit Best Way to Get Rid of Mouse in House, and 12 Mouse Trap Baits That Actually Work, but beware, not all of the advice is humane.

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Christine Muller, Teacher of Music and the Environment

Board Secretary, International Environment Forum

I was interested in environmental issues already at a young age and became a Bahá’í when I was 17, which was the beginning of a life-long study of the Bahá’í Faith. As the environmental crisis was worsening, I began to systematically study climate change at a time when not much information was easily available. I also searched the Bahá’í teachings for a spiritual solution to the climate crisis. At that time, climate change was not known to most people and there were no educational materials available. That’s why I wrote Scientific and Spiritual Dimensions of Climate Change – an Interfaith Study Course, which the International Environment Forum posted in 2009. I joined the Wilmette Institute as support faculty for its Sustainable Development course in 2011 and created its Climate Change course the following year. I also teach a course on climate change for the Environmental Sciences Department of the Baha’i Institute of Higher Education (BIHE) in Iran. I have served on the board of RI Interfaith Power&Light for more than a decade. In recent years, much of my time is spent serving the Bahá’í-inspired International Environment Forum (iefworld.org) as its secretary.  My formal academic background is in music, and I enjoy part-time piano teaching, playing and - when there is time - composing music. A recent composition is Humans on Earth – a Ballad of Our Time for two singers, string orchestra, piano, and percussion. Its lyrics include quotations from scientific sources and the Bahá’í Writings. Christine’s articles on BahaiTeachings.orgSee Faculty Bio

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