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An animal shelter is asking for help after a man surrendered nearly 1,000 mice

An animal shelter is asking for help after a man surrendered nearly 1,000 mice

FILE – mouse inside the case. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

A man in New Hampshire handed over almost 1000 mice local resident shelter for animals and now the workers are fighting because those mice give birth to more mice.

“Even in the short time we’ve had them, a lot of these mice have given birth,” said Lisa Dennison, executive director of the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. “This is an exponential problem that continues to grow.”

Logistical dilemma

On Monday, about 450 mice arrived at the shelters and another 500 were on the way. To make room, the shelter staff took part of their cat pavilion and built a mouse hospital and hotel.

Just registering each mouse in the shelter’s database is a daunting task, not to mention providing food, water and bedding.

That’s a lot of work for a facility that once took in as many as 125 animals in a single day.

“That happens when you take a large number, but even when we take 54 goats or 39 cats, I mean, those are still big numbers, but much more manageable, as you can imagine, than hundreds and hundreds of mice, Dennison said.

Other shelters have agreed to take in 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 shelter staff and volunteers named them. Doug, Darrell, Dude and Deputy were waiting at home in the same tank. Others were given candy-inspired names—Butterfinger, Junior Mint, and Milk Dud, to name a few.

How to help

The shelter said they needed 5 or 10 gallon glass tanks with lids to house the mice.

“If you have an old tank in your basement just gathering dust, we would greatly appreciate it if you would consider cleaning it and donating it,” the shelter said.

For those who live in the area, donations can be left in the shelter’s donation container at the garage door between 8am and 5pm local time, any day of the week.

Those interested can do so by filling out an application online, here.

Forms can be found to adopt mice here.

And for those who don’t live nearby but want to help, donations can be sent to the shelter SOS Foundation. The shelter is also set up Amazon Wish List and Chewy for people who want to help donate certain items.