New Hampshire shelter faces enor-mouse problem after man surrenders nearly 1,000 rodents

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.

Lined up nose to tail, they’d span more than a football field. There’s enough to give one mouse to every member of the U.S. Congress and the 424-member New Hampshire Legislature combined. And the total is growing thanks to some basic biology. Female mice are sexually mature at roughly six weeks old, gestation lasts about 20 days, and they can mate again 24 hours later.

“Even in the short time that we’ve had them, many of these mice have given birth,” Dennison said. “It’s an exponential problem that keeps growing.”

Part of the shelter’s cat pavilion has been turned into a mouse hospital and hotel, with dozens of containers lined up on the floor, resting atop multiple tables and stacked on shelves. 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.

Elisha Murray heard about the shelter’s predicament from local news and decided to adopt four females named Kelly, Dee, Maxine and Eleven, despite having told her children last week, “No more rodents.”

“We’ve always had small rodents as pets — rats, mice, hamsters, the whole nine — so I just figured I could help out,” she said. “We have the whole setup, everything I need at home already, so I figured, what the hell.”

Erica Newton, left, and Emily Sullivan unload hundreds of fancy mice at the New Hampshire SPCA which were surrendered earlier in the day, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Stratham, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Adoption coordinator Lexi Giannopoulos loads four fancy mice, which were adopted out of nearly 1,000 fancy mice that were surrendered, at the New Hampshire SPCA, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Stratham, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Grady McKinnon, 2, of Nottingham, N.H. watches fancy mice in glass tanks, which were a portion of nearly 1,000 that surrendered, at the New Hampshire SPCA, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Stratham, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Adoption coordinator Lexi Giannopoulos tries to get a grasp on a mouse that ran up her arm, which is one of nearly 1,000 fancy mice that were surrendered, at the New Hampshire SPCA, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Stratham, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Five of nearly 1,000 fancy mice are held in a glass tank, which were surrendered recently by an owner who was overwhelmed by the volume of the multiplying mice, at the New Hampshire SPCA, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Stratham, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Staff and volunteers attend to a portion nearly 1,000 fancy mice held in glass tanks that were surrendered at the New Hampshire SPCA, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Stratham, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Adoption coordinator Lexi Giannopoulos cradles one of nearly 1,000 fancy mice that were surrendered at the New Hampshire SPCA, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Stratham, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appeals court in New Orleans on Friday temporarily limited the scope of a ruling that Louisiana’s law requiring public schools to post the Ten Commandments in all classrooms next year is unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge John deGravelles’ ruling that the law is unconstitutional remains in effect under the order from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. However, the appellate court temporarily blocked a part of the ruling that requires state education officials to notify public schools statewide that the law has been struck down.

State attorneys said in an emergency stay motion filed Wednesday that deGravelles' finding that the commandments posting requirement is unconstitutional only affects five local school systems that are defendants in the case. They said deGravelles overstepped his authority when he ordered that schools in all 72 districts be notified of his finding. They asked that the notification requirement be paused immediately while they appeal all of deGravelles' order. That broader appeal was filed later Friday night.

Friday’s 5th Circuit order was a temporary “administrative stay” granted in response to the state's emergency request. The order may be altered or lifted as the appeal progresses. Judges Jerry Smith, nominated to the court by former President Ronald Reagan, and Kurt Engelhardt, nominated by former President Donald Trump, voted to grant the stay in a one-sentence order. A footnote said Judge James Graves, nominated by former President Barack Obama, would have denied the stay.

Attorney General Liz Murrill celebrated the ruling in a Friday evening social media post.

“I look forward to immediately working with all of our school boards who are not involved in this lawsuit to implement the law soon,” she wrote.

The law specifies a version of the Ten Commandments must be posted in all Louisiana public classrooms from K-12 and at public universities by Jan. 1. It was passed by the Republican-dominated Legislature this year and signed by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry in June.

DeGravelles ruled Tuesday that the law was “overtly religious” and “unconstitutional on its face.” He said state Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley and the state education board — who are defendants in the lawsuit — can take no steps to implement the law. And he told them to notify all school boards that it has been found unconstitutional.

Murrill, a Republican ally of Landry, said the state disagrees with the entire ruling. However, she said the notification requirement created an immediate problem because it will confuse school systems where, the state contends, the law remains in effect.

FILE - Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill speaks holds up a mini-display showing the Ten Commandments during a press conference regarding the Ten Commandments in schools Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, in Baton Rouge, La. (Hilary Scheinuk/The Advocate via AP, File)