Yeah, they're kind of cute when you see `em up close with their whiskers twitching. But not when they're chewing everything to bits and shitting in and on everything from your food to your clothes to your bed (the baby's crib?) to your soap and your toothbrush.

If they're in the house, kill `em. Like Clint says, they're not endangered. If anything, they have prospered and spread themselves out across the globe along with our species. And the few you kill aren't going to keep the peregrine falcon or the Spotted Owl alive either. They hunt live prey. Toss `em out on the road for the crows to pick up. If you let them go alive, they'll be back the same way they got in the first time. Find where that hole is and plug it up (good luck there, a mouse can flatten his rib cage down and squeak in under a 1/4 inch space under your door frame).

To kill large ammounts, a drowning trap works best, a big plastic bucket half full of water. Devise a few baited fall-away sticks leaning out over the lip. A bit dollop of cold bacon grease works best. They love the smell. Peanut butter is also good.