Two mice enjoy playing in an aquarium on Monday after they were surrendered to the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Stratham.
Kelly Marinel, manager of animal care at the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, spends some time socializing with Gary, one of the pet mice surrendered to the Stratham shelter last week.
Two mice enjoy playing in an aquarium on Monday after they were surrendered to the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Stratham.
Two mice enjoy playing in an aquarium on Monday after they were surrendered to the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Stratham.
Two mice enjoy playing in an aquarium on Monday after they were surrendered to the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Stratham.
Kelly Marinel, manager of animal care at the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, spends some time socializing with Gary, one of the pet mice surrendered to the Stratham shelter last week.
SOME EXPECTANT parents spend months deciding on a name for their newborn, but when staff at a Stratham animal shelter suddenly wound up with more than 600 pet mice in their care late last week, they wasted no time giving them names.
Because the mess of mice that was taken in must be logged just like any other pets that are put up for adoption, the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals scurried to name each one and create the necessary paperwork. Staffers were on a monumental mouse mission that required an all-hands approach.
“Every single one has to be entered into the database, named, tracked, given a number, all of that,” SPCA Executive Director Lisa Dennison said.
Some mice were given more traditional names like Gary, Ernie and Fernando, but with so many that needed names, staffers who were working their tails off eventually resorted to naming mice after candy. Names now include Fun Dip, Mento, Candy Corn, M&M, and Reese’s Pieces. There’s even a mouse named Dunkaroo after the cookie and frosting snack pack that was popular in the 1990s.
According to Dennison, 610 mice were removed from their owner’s home last week after he became overwhelmed by the number of rapidly reproducing rodents. On Monday, 150 African Soft Fur rats were also surrendered from the same home and will now be examined, named, and put up for adoption. The shelter initially estimated that it could end up with nearly 1,000 mice in total, but it now appears that it will be the 610 mice, with maybe only a few more, in addition to the newly discovered rats.
The mice aren’t common field mice, but friendly, curious and highly social pets that are sometimes referred to as “fancy mice.” While they may not be starring in a new Disney animation, at least not yet, shelter officials noted that Monday was Mickey Mouse’s birthday.
18 mice adopted
As word of the mousy mayhem at the SPCA spread over the weekend, other animal welfare organizations in New England agreed to take some of the mice off their hands. More than 100 have been sent to other shelters so far.
“They’ve been offering to take some, which is fantastic because you really want the greater community to be able to absorb this population of pet mice. No one agency can do this alone. This makes it more reasonable in terms of staffing and volunteers to care for them every day. It’s wonderful to watch them leaving us,” Dennison said.
As of Monday morning, 18 mice had been adopted from the local shelter while others have been placed in foster care.
Many of the mice are currently up for adoption, but Dennison said there are female mice who can’t be adopted yet as they remain on pregnancy watch.
The SPCA hopes to be able to continue shipping mice to other animal welfare agencies while adopting out as many as they can in the days and weeks ahead.
Dennison said she believes this may be the largest number of animals taken in at one time by the SPCA.
“It’s more than just taking care of the mice. There’s everything else that goes into it. We have our biggest fundraiser of the year this weekend. This is all on top of caring for the other 200-plus animals we have,” she said.
Dennison encourages anyone who may be overwhelmed with pets to reach out sooner rather than later.
“If he had gotten to 20 or 30 or 50 and said, ‘Oh my God, they’re starting to breed out of control and I need help’ before it got to be 300, 400, 500, 600, 1,000, we could have helped him gender them and separate them if that was the issue. We could have told him about the breeding cycle,” she said.
‘Cat pavillion’
Ironically, many of the mice are being housed in the SPCA’s “Cat Pavillion,” which was most recently being used for rabbits. The area provides more space for the tanks, plastic tubs and other habitats that are providing clean and safe living quarters for the mice during their stay. The cats and rabbits that have used the space in the past are currently being housed in other rooms.
Staffers and volunteers are now spending hours each day cleaning up after the mice. Monday was Nicole Affannato’s first day volunteering for the SPCA. The Portsmouth woman signed up to volunteer before the influx of mice arrived and was expecting to work with some small animals like mice and rabbits.
“I didn’t think it would be hundreds of mice,” she said, “but I’m glad that I’m here and that I can help.”
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