The Magic Kingdom invaded by millions of real, live mice

[Ian David]

Mickey's cousins unwelcome guests in Florida town

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Central Florida, the home of Walt Disney World, is typically invaded by visitors wearing mouse ears this time of year.

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The thumb-sized house mice have chased people out of homes and offices for the second time since 1999, said David Overfield, environmental administrator for the Orange County Health Department.

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Dee Sincavage, owner of one of the many ornamental plant nurseries for which Apopka is known, is hard pressed to pick her worst mouse experience since the infestation began last summer by chasing kids out of Camp Wewa.

Was it the morning she walked into her nursery and felt the squish-crunch of fresh mouse carcasses underfoot? The night mice chewed through plumbing, flooding her office and soaking her business records? Or just the daily ordeal of drowning and disposing of dozens of live mice caught in traps overnight?

More:
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2006-12-30T190817Z_01_N30286837_RTRUKOC_0_US-MICE-INVASION.xml&src=rss

[Missy M]

1. Sounds like Mickey is having a grand old time procreating!!

[originalpckelly]

7. He breeds like Bugs Bunny.

[Missy M]

9. That gave me my only laugh for the day. Thank you!

:rofl:

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. The Tag Line Makes It Sound Like The Mice Are In Disney World...

Apopka is about thirty miles away...

[valerief]

3. That is sooooo gross. nt

[seabeyond]

4. eeew, another place i cross off my list of ever living at. n/t

[China_cat]

5. Have they never heard of cats?

[seabeyond]

8. my friends cat brings her all the animals she gets as if to get a pat on the head

sure would hate for the cats down there to be dropping these things at my feet. and i understand cats like to play with their captures. just a greater eeeew.... thinking about the cats being a part of the solution.

[Warpy]

6. You can't make this stuff up

and should never try.

I love it.

[Orangepeel]

10. I lived in Orlando for years. Never saw a mouse.

I think this story is a tad sensationalist.

[pnwmom]

11. Maybe you should go for a visit.

But watch your step. EEW!

:bounce:

[1monster]

12. Believe me when nature gets out of balance, it can lead to situations

like this mouse disaster in Apopka.

Years ago, my husband decided he wanted a bird feeder. At the time we had California lattice over our back deck. He hung the bird feeder from the lattice.

We'd see rats running across the back fence at night when we turned on an outside light. We hear pitter-patter-scratching out side.

Then one night we turned on an outside light on the side of the deck where the bird feeder was to find out what the commotion was.

The sight was almost unbelievable. There were literally hundreds of rats in our back yard, on our deck and on the lattice work. The rats on the lattice work by the bird feeder were fighting over the bird feed. Mice on the deck below were eating everything the rats dropped.

The bird feeder came down the next day and didn't go up again for years. We found that the rats had chewed through the house supports in some places.

We got cats; our neighbors (who found rats nesting in their dryer vent) got cats; other people in the neighborhood got cats.

We don't have a problem with rats anymore (and hopefully never will again), but recently, the cats have been bringing home mice for the first time ever.

I'll agree that it is somewhat appalling how cats play with their prey, but I can live with that a whole lot easier than I can live with rats which are filthy, dirty digusting animals.