Design is Dangerous

Recently, I have had this misfortune of housing two mice within my apartment.  It was then that I became familiar with a small object that I think is poorly designed, and potentially highly dangerous for its users.  What I am in fact discussing today is the standard mouse trap.  While the function of the basic trap is easy to understand, the mere process of setting the trap can be detrimental to ones' fingers.  Mouse traps run on a basic spring action. A metal bar is pulled taut against one end of the trap and held down with another slim metal bar.  This bar is then loosely secured to a small lever in which the bait is placed.  When a mouse or other animal comes to partake in said bait, the lever mechanism will release the hold bar and the spring action will force the other bar swiftly upon the victim and crush its body.  While this may be effective in catching a mouse, the lever securing the bar from snapping is easily activated and often times can snap forward while a person is setting the trap, therefore injuring their own fingers.  I was lucky to avoid this misfortune, but only narrowly.  To further its dangerous qualities, this trap, once placed, has nothing to prevent other people of animals from setting them off.  They are highly inappropriate in places where small pets and children can be found as one of them could easily encounter these devices.

In addition, the basic mousetrap is horrible in terms of clean up and hygiene.  A caught mouse is literally crushed, spilling who knows what kind of germs and bacteria onto the surface in which it has died.  In some cases, if a person was unable to check the traps daily, a caught mouse will begin to fester and generally tend to stick to the ground in which it is laying.  The spread of bacteria is frightening.  Thankfully, there are several improvements on the mousetrap today in which a caught mouse is housed within a bit of plastic.  These newer traps are then exposed of entirely keeping the area in which the mouse died somewhat cleaner than that of the old mousetraps.  This is definitely an improvement, but with luck, one will never even need to use any types of traps for these unwanted critters.