Update: After switching on the trap, re-aiming the camera, and sprinkling the new site with cheese, Josh settled in with his laptop and a beer. Within ten minutes, the rats started showing up live on the screen. And within fifteen minutes Josh witnessed his first trap induced rat death. The witness (Josh) reported the rat climbing all over the box, sniffing around for extra cheese, cautious and concerned but throwing it all to hell and crawling inside…a flash of light and the dark cavern of the trap went still. Because he saw it live, because he had been caught up in the technology and the science of it all, Josh failed to recognize the emotional component. He immediately plunged into a state of deep guilt. This is a man who has always been against the death penalty, and I thought of that as he struggled with the moral implications of sentencing a rat to die. Luckily, the disposal was brief–only a glimpse of the skinny tail dangling out of the box–and the rat was quickly double bagged. Today is garbage day so the rat corpse will only linger in the can for a short period of time. It will be the first of many, I’m sure. I know our skins will thicken, our hearts will harden, but the thrill of rat cam has lessened.