Man Surrenders Nearly 1,000 Rodents To New Hampshire Shelter

The shelter now has an enor-mouse problem on its hands.

STRATHAM, N.H. (AP) — A group of mice is called a nest, but what do you call 1,000 of them in one animal shelter?

“Crippling,” said Lisa Dennison, executive director of the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which is scrambling to care for an overwhelming influx of rapidly reproducing rodents.

It all started Monday when a man arrived saying he wanted to give up 150 mice. But then he clarified: 150 containers of mice, not individual critters. He had 73 mice with him that day, and by Friday morning, about 450 had been transferred to the shelter. Another 500 or so were on the way.

And that number is growing thanks to some basic biology. Many of the mice arrived pregnant.

“One of the challenges is that the gestation is short and breeding begins early on,” said Dennison. “It’s an enormous problem. This is something that got out of control significantly.”