A night-time walk turned into a mouse hunt for housewife Karen Teng on Tuesday when she saw more than 50 white mice on a grass patch.
Madam Teng, 47, was with her husband walking their two dogs in Pasir Ris Drive 4 when a moving white mass caught her eye. On closer inspection, she realised the mass was made up of little rodents.
"We were alarmed because they were all over the place," she said.
A trail of bread slices had also been placed at the same place, leading to a forested area, which she thinks was meant to lure the mice farther away from the pavement.
She estimated that the mice, which had light brown patches, were 6cm long, minus their tails.
Madam Teng went home for a pair of gloves and a box, and then returned to the location to gather the scurrying mice, with the help of a neighbour and two passers-by. They managed to catch 54 mice.
"I thought it would be cruel to leave them alone," she said.
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Previous cases of pet abandonment
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•Noorfazanah Abdul Salam, 32, was fined $3,000 on Aug 23 for abandoning her mixed-breed pet cat in a pet carrier in Sumang Walk. She had taken the cat to the veterinarian the day before, but could not afford the bill. She abandoned it later that day.
•Tan Lee Cheng, 46, abandoned her son's pet dog, a Jack Russell terrier, after she decided that he was unable to care for it. She was fined $4,000 and banned for six months from owning pets on Aug 16.
• Lu Mei Hua, 43, was fined $3,000 and given a six-month ban on pet ownership on Aug 16 after she instructed her domestic helper to leave their unlicensed toy poodle at an Ang Mo Kio void deck after it bit her daughter's finger.
•In June, Joseph Tang Yew Liang, 33, was fined $4,800 for abandoning two unlicensed pet dogs. He claimed that he abandoned the dogs because of financial difficulty.
Samantha Boh
The mice have been handed over to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), where they are undergoing health checks.
They will be put up for adoption if healthy, said a spokesman.
"We suspect it is a case of pet abandonment because these are not stray mice but mice that are commonly used in laboratories, which are very tame and can be kept as pets. And there were so many of them in one place," said the SPCA spokesman.
The chances of such domesticated animals surviving in the wild are slim, the spokesman said, adding that a passer-by saw two men acting suspiciously in the area just before the mice were found.
The SPCA sent an inspector to the site yesterday to interview people in the vicinity. It will also be appealing for information through social media and posters.
Cases of mice being dumped are rare. Most of the abandoned pets picked up by the SPCA are dogs, cats and rabbits.
The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore said it is investigating the incident.
For pet abandonment, first-time offenders can be fined up to $10,000 and/or jailed for a year.
