By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-18 21:51:40 | Updated at 2024-11-19 00:29:19
2 hours ago
Am overwhelmed pet owner has surrendered one thousand mice and counting to stunned shelter staff after the rapidly breeding rodents multiplied beyond his control - leaving animal welfare workers scrambling to cope with the furry influx.
The unnamed man walked into the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on Monday hoping to give up what he claimed were '150 mice' - before revealing that he actually meant 150 tanks of mice.
He initially surrendered 71 mice but after counting, that number quickly grew to 400.
Now hundreds more are still waiting to be rescued from what officials described as 'terrible living conditions.'
'We have never seen anything like this,' said Savannah Alcero, Director of Animal and Veterinary Services at the NHSPCA. 'And the longer we wait to get all of the mice out of their terrible living conditions … the greater the likelihood is that the numbers will continue to grow.'
'With a gestation period of just around 20 days, mice can reproduce at an alarming rate,' she added.
Staff were horrified to discover the animals crammed into filthy plastic tubs that appeared not to have been cleaned 'in a long time.'
An overwhelmed pet owner has handed over more than a thousand mice to stunned shelter staff after the rapidly breeding rodents multiplied beyond his control - leaving animal welfare workers scrambling to cope with the furry influx
The unnamed man walked into the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on Monday hoping to give up what he claimed were '150 mice' - before revealing that he actually meant 150 tanks of mice
On top of that, the mice weren't separated by sex, leading to unstoppable breeding which left some mice still pregnant.
'The mice were living in filthy plastic tubs that hadn't been cleaned in what appeared to be a long time,' the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said in a Thursday news release.
Now the shelter has issued an urgent appeal across New England for help housing the mushrooming mouse population, as pregnant females continue giving birth daily.
These aren't ordinary field mice, but 'fancy mice' - typically friendly and curious pets that can make entertaining companions.
The shelter is now seeking adoptive homes for the first wave of mice, while others remain under careful watch in what has become New Hampshire's largest-ever rodent rescue operation.
Staff were horrified to discover the animals crammed into filthy plastic tubs that appeared not to have been cleaned 'in a long time'
He initially surrendered 71 mice but after counting, that number quickly grew to 400
The shelter is now seeking adoptive homes for the first wave of mice, while others remain under careful watch in what has become New Hampshire's largest-ever rodent rescue operation
Lisa Dennison, executive director of the New Hampshire SPCA, called the situation 'crippling.'
'Even in the short time that we've had them, many of these mice have given birth,' Dennison told the AP. 'It's an exponential problem that keeps growing.'
The most animals the shelter took in one day prior to this was 125.
'It does happen where you take a large number, but even when we took in 54 goats or we took in 39 cats, I mean, those are still large numbers, but much more manageable as you can imagine than hundreds and hundreds of mice,' Dennison said.
