Me versus the neighborhood punks

We've had a lot of "Nature" going on in the back yard this summer.  Maybe we've let the garden go a little wild, maybe the neighbors are keeping their cats indoors more.  Mostly its been a plus, the Raccoon Depredations on our pond notwithstanding.

But in the last couple of weeks there have been some actions by our fuzzy pals that cannot be ignored.  Every tomato gets stolen, partly eaten and discarded.  Bean vines get nipped off at the base, evidently just to see what they taste like.  Eventually my wife ordered me into action.

The culprits appeared to be chipmunks and bunnies.  With a mandate to remove but not kill them a live trap was needed.  I had one on hand but the mesh was too wide for chipmunks.  Having a Secret Robotics Workshop comes in handy....I just added a casing of clear polycarbonate.  Tough, bullet resistant, more than enough for these characters.

Ready for deployment.  Right under the bean arbor and next to the tomatoes. 

A captured perp trying to look innocent.  Notice that I am using for bait the very tomatoes they fancy so much.

More cute, equally guilty.  A baby bunny.

When I tell my better half that I am taking them "For a little ride over the river" I mean it literally.  I'm not mean.  I want them to have decent little rodent lives somewhere else.  Or maybe not, foxes gotta eat too.  Good luck ya little striped rat.

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Current tally is seven chipmunks, one bunny and a bat.  Although the latter was captured in the house with a net - and safely released - it counts in the seasonal campaign against Critterdom.