FILE - A mouse inside an enclosure. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)
null - A man in New Hampshire surrendered nearly 1,000 mice to a local animal shelter and now workers are scrambling because those mice are giving birth to more mice.
"Even in the short time that we’ve had them, many of these mice have given birth," said Lisa Dennison, executive director of the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "It’s an exponential problem that keeps growing."
A logistical dilemma
On Monday, about 450 mice arrived at the shelters with another 500 on the way. To make room, shelter employees took over part of their cat pavilion and built a mouse hospital and hotel.
Just logging each mouse into the shelter’s database is a chore, never mind providing food, water and bedding.
It’s a lot of work for a facility that at most once took in 125 animals in one day.
"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.
Other shelters have agreed to take some of the mice, and some are being sent to foster homes as the shelter seeks donations of food supplies. About a dozen mice were ready for adoption Friday after being named by shelter staff and volunteers. Doug, Darrell, Dude and Deputy were waiting for homes in one tank. Others were given candy-inspired names — Butterfinger, Junior Mint and Milk Dud, to name a few.
How to help
The shelter said they are in need of 5- or 10-gallon glass tanks with lids to house the mice.
"If you've got an old tank just collecting dust in your basement, we'd be so appreciative if you would consider giving it a scrub and donating it," the shelter said.
For those who live locally, donations can be dropped off at the shelter’s donation bin outside their garage door between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. local time and on any day of the week.
Those who wish to foster can do so by filling out the application online, here.
To adopt the mice, forms can be found here.
And for anyone who does not live nearby but wishes to help, donations can be sent to the shelter’s SOS Fund. The shelter has also set up an Amazon and Chewy wish list for people who want to help donate specific items.