Hypothetical logistical problem What would you do with 1,000 mice?>You're not allowed to kill them>they're not neutered and breeding rapidly>You have one (1) veterinary surgeon at your disposalFor the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, this is not a hypothetical https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/17/us/new-hampshire-man-surrenders-1000-mice/index.htmlFor the last week, they have been working to separate the males and females, since there's no way they'd be able to neuter them all in time. Several dozen mice have been born at the shelterThe total is unknown but estimated to be between 800-1,000Surely, this is greater than the total annual demand for new pet mice in New Hampshire, probably greater than the annual demand for new pet mice in all of New England and likely enough to supply all of north America for a few weeks. The NHSPCA is a no-kill shelterSo what would you do, in their shoes?
>>4909105Stop being a no kill shelter. Throw the pitbull mixes in the mouse pit and see who wins.
>>4909105sled dog race but with mice
>>4909105That's just stupid busywork to feel self-righteous at this point. Euthanize, freeze them and donate them to some snake breeding facility.
>>4909109>>4909113Ja, ve should gas zem all. Aber, some of their major donors would cease donating if they violated their no-kill policy, and they would be less able to take care of animals going forward And so as stated in OP, killing them is against the rules and an invalid suggestion. >>4909110This is a good idea, we can drive them up to Canada and then release them.
>>4909117https://nhspca.org/lee-goats/They do a lot of good thanks to their donors, they got all these goats adopted out to better farms.
>>4909105Build them a utopia and they'll eventually extinct themselves in probably less than 2 years
>test mice one by one in a variety of simple games and skills>identify the natural leader>befriend him and train him with kindness>organize platoons of mice>delegate the leader to send platoons on search for delicious and rare ingredients>patiently wait as my army of mice amass luxury foodstuffs>final mission>strap tiny bags to mice>send them to local bakery>leader organizes a flying squad to distract overnight bakers>mouse platoons fill bags with flour and return to me>leader is killed by hotel pan flung with deadly accuracy by enraged Juan-Manuel>died saving his squad from certain death>awarded post mortem Medal of Honoria Rodentia>bake crackers>eat crackers and caviar with finest cheeses and liqeurs and fruits in his honor at state dinner>999 mice in formation>one empty spot at the front>We finish meal, stand to toast>"In the name of the one that can't be here with us tonight! Comrades! Liberté, égalité, fraternité! Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori! What do you say to your brother in arms!?>"SQUEAK!!!!!!"war is hell
>>4909105https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_sink
>>4909105send them to another shelter, that's what they do with pitbulls
>>4909105Birth control until neutered or build a huge enclosure and repeat the overpopulation utopia project and live stream it.
>>4909173Came here to say this.
>>4909105Sleeping gas.
>>4909105My shelter actually had a similar problem; I don't think it was 1k, but some asshole decided to stop breeding feeder mice, and when they brought them in they brought all 100+ mice in one big tank, so every single female was pregnant.Same problem as y'all, euthanizing all of them meant we would be the worst shelter in the tri-state area with a live release rate of like 10%. When people see that, they refuse to support you which means less adoptions and less donations, which is the main way private shelters make any money. It also means you get over-looked on grants and other support, the other way shelters get funding.We asked for more mouse housing from the public, but still had to house a ton of males together and had one giant free for all for females that didn't currently have babies. What ended up happening is a lot of females died because one would become aggressive in the female colony and pick on the weakest. When we got rid of the weakest, they'd find the next weakest. When we got rid of the aggressive one, a new one would take it's place. Any males placed together due to space constraints ended up in a blood bath. I actually took one of the losers from these fights, and gave some others to family and friends.A lot of mice got loose, just from shoddy cages and in cleaning a few hundred mice a day. Cats in cat rooms usually caught them though I'm sure some escaped. Employees got to take them home for free.Most of the public does not understand how animal shelters work, so shit like this is a lose/lose situation. I really wish shelters could flat out refuse surrenders and force people to pay to euthanize instead.
>>4909105>>4909281As for what I would do in that scenario;Obviously euth all of them is out of the question, you'd be destroying your reputation and ruining the shelter.At the time my shelter charged I think $1 more for their mice than the local live feeders, but personally I think they should have made them free or at least the same price, if not cheaper - the hassle of the adoption paperwork is enough to make most people looking feeders to look elsewhere, and you'd only get to do it once anyways. If you went to adopt a new mouse every month, you'd just get denied and put on a list.I would also make informational pamphlets on how to properly care for mice cheaply. Like how to make a cheap bin cage, free enrichment, etc. They are a 2 year commitment at most, so I'm less concerned about impulse purchases.I would not allow households to buy both males and females (unless you're actually able to desex permanently, we didn't have that ability). However buying a male or buying 2 females I'd give discounts for.If at all possible, I'd throw in free shit - free enclosure, free bag of food, free water bottle, etc to entice more adoptions.Major pet stores (petsmart, petco) are actually not allowed to sell rodents from other sources, i guess Marshall's considers it competition. Believe me I have tried. But you can still work with them to advertise, or have them hand out little coupons. People love to think they found a deal. Just make sure the deal they get from the pet stores is different than the deal they can get elsewhere. Maybe they get to pick out a free toy or something.Work with smaller pet stores to actually have your mice physically there available for adoption. IME the pet store employees are actually pretty fucking vigilant about who gets to adopt, maybe even more so than the shelter; I think because it isn't affecting their stores' sales, being allowed to be picky rather than push a purchase is a breath of fresh air.
