just in case it wasn't clearly self-evident

Adorable Plague Mongerer

Rats brought The Plague to Europe not all that long ago, historically speaking.

The Plague, which caused the Black Death that spread across Europe along trade routes during the 13th century, killed about 100 million people during a time when there were only about 450 million people on Earth. The Plague killed almost 25% of the world's population at one time and is still killing people today, 700 years later.

Without treatment the Black Death, also known as the bubonic plague, kills 2 out of 3 people within 4 days.

There are now almost 7 billion people on Earth. If we suffered another Black Death more than 1.5 billion people could die. That's 15 times more people than the original Black Death. Almost 50 times more casualties than the Holocaust and Christian Conquests combined.

Like, serious carnage, man.

WREAKER OF HAVOC!

I love rodents. I've raised and kept hamsters and mice and rabbits and ferrets and gerbils and God only knows how many different types of 'em. But I still think a house overrun by mice and rats is an omen. Something to be aware of and heeded.

Harbinger of Death!

Freakin' Cutie Pie Apocalypse Maker!

Mice are urban canaries in the mine. A few of them here or there is a healthy part of organic civilization. A few too many of them is a sign of neglect and indulgence. Far too many of them means their civilization is in the midst of decay and destruction.

Those are live mice.

Dead mice are even worse. The presence of dead mice implies total civil annihilation. That's not just an omen, it's full out bad voodoo.

***

I don't remember who taught me to listen to nature when I was a kid. I think it may have been my father, of all people. It is only a vague memory. A man pointing out leaves and birds and trees to me, describing them. I was only a baby.

You gotta pay attention to the mice, man.

Happy urban mice, such a rare, rare thing, tend to imply, to connote, to mean that the human civilization these happy mice co-exist within is healthy and happy too; fully sentient and cohesive and holistic.

How many cities have you traveled to and visited that had happy mice?

Like.. none. That I can think of, at least.

I've seen plenty of happy mice in the fields and the woods, though.

I've seen plenty of happy humans in the fields and the woods, for that matter.

How many large cities have you traveled to and visited that were populated by a majority of sincerely happy, kindhearted humans?

They probably have happy mice too.