Bugs, Life, Karma

Death and Rebirth and Karma

By Me aka Tequila Rob

I am in the pest control business. I kill bugs all day every day, also including wildlife such as rats, mice, skunks, gophers, snakes and more. I wonder even though killing animals and insects is my job, if I am rewarding myself with bad karma.

I help people who are scared of spiders and mice but all I can do is kill and then kill some more. When you see a mouse who got stuck on a glue trap , which by the way is in humane but we pest control professionals still use all the time, then it’s heartbreaking.

Sometimes mice will gnaw off their legs trying to escape and you can hear their yells and smell their desperation and fear. It’s wise to just stomp on them and kill them humanely when they get stuck, but we like to use bait and poison them as well. I wonder how many mice I’ve killed who had families and the baby mice are left wondering where their mom went. Those babies will probably starve or die exploring and getting eaten by a predator all thanks to me.

I am not a vegetarian but wonder how many animals I’ve eaten in my life. How many cows and chickens and pigs and fish and crabs and shrimp have I consumed in my 33 years of life? Will I get bad karma for this or is it okay since us humans are the alpha predator and the top of the food chain. Lions eat antelope and tigers eat meat too and they are all doing what is ingrained in their instincts and that is to hunt and kill and eat whatever they can, whenever they can.

Some bugs are fucking evil like bed bugs, causing nightmares and paranoia to the people who live in houses and apartments infested with them, partly due to the fact they are extremely hard to get rid of. I kill bed bugs daily and even though I kill them for a living they freak me the fuck out as well.

I kill wasps and hornets as well, and when people tell me they are allergic and I kill a big nest, in a way am I not potentially saving their life? I feel good about that, but wasps didn’t choose to be a wasp, and by killing them I am not respecting their right to be on this earth.

It’s a complicated issue to say the least, me a pest control professional with a conscience. Rats are disgusting and cause disease, but they are still rodents and they have families and are just looking to live life and eat food. They don’t understand that they are trespassing in your home, they just want to share your food and find a place to stay out of the cold. Yet we kill them with vengeance and with no mercy. We use snap traps, poison, pellet guns, we even use feral cats to kill them. What if we happened to become a mouse for a day, hmmm chances are we would be dead.

I know a guy who kills hundreds of coyotes a year, and automatically you may think he is just a huge asshole. But he does this and is hired by ranchers who are just trying to protect their livestock and their livelihood. Coyotes will eat their sheep and chickens and other animals, so my friend will hunt and kill the coyotes who are hurting the farmers. He is still committing mass murder on a bunch of animals but he is also helping out families so they can eat and pay rent. Who is right and who is wrong?

I feel like the Hitler of insects because when it comes to ants and spiders and roaches, I commit literally insecticide if that is a word. And I sincerely hope you know that the bird is the word. If you don’t then it’s sad, because everybody knows that the bird is the word. Its our goal to kill every roach, no matter the size and same with bed bugs. Whole extended families of insects are dying all for what so us humans can be happy?

Respect all animal life, and if you can, trap spiders and set them free outside. Find a job where you dont harm insects, and find your happiness that is buried deep inside you. Find and live your truth, and along the way find peace within.