Baby on board
A mouse in a motorcycle and the man who felt it was worth saving
What would you do if you found a newborn mouse in your garage?
Dennis Lyon, of Brookline, found one nestled in his motorcycle in a nest of wires apparently chewed by its mother, who was nowhere to be seen. When he picked the baby up for a closer look, he found it was cold, barely moving and no bigger than his thumb. Its eyes were tightly closed. Yes, it was a mouse, and yes, its mother had trashed his Honda sport touring cycle, ruining his plans for a weekend getaway. But it was also helpless and cute, with naked pink paws and fingers that resembled minuscule human hands.
He went to a social media neighborhood page and asked, “Does anyone want to rescue a baby mouse?” He said he couldn’t bring it into his own house because he didn’t think his indoor-only cats, Otis and Grady, would give it a friendly reception.
Many people answered, telling him various ways to kill it.
“I just didn’t have the heart to do that,” he said. “I can’t blame a mouse for being a mouse.”
At that point, “I had resigned myself to the fact that I was going to have to figure out a way to save Orphie,” which is the gender-neutral name he gave the orphaned mouse.
He put the creature in a Tupperware container with a rag in an attempt to warm it.
An animal lover on social media suggested that he leave it alone for a day because the mother mouse would probably return for it. That didn’t happen. The baby mouse did not eat the food he put out for it: skim milk and bird seed, each in its own bottle cap.
This all started on May 15. While working from home during the coronavirus pandemic, Mr. Lyon had a four-day weekend and planned to ride his motorcycle to and from West Virginia.
“Friday morning I had everything loaded on the motorcycle, and it wouldn’t crank,” he said. “I got a new battery, and it still wouldn’t start. A friend offered to come over and take a look at it.”
They took the motorcycle apart. “Under the air cleaner housing, there were a bunch of chewed up wires. Then I heard a tiny squeak, and there was the baby mouse. I had never encountered one before.”
It will take a $90 part and eight hours of labor to get the motorcycle up and running, Mr. Lyon said.
“I saw on Facebook that it’s not uncommon for mice to get into motorcycles and chew on the wires, but it had never happened to me,” he said.
He did some online research and went to a pet store, “but they didn’t have anything for baby mice.” He spent $16 for a little cage, a heating pad and replacement formula for newborn kittens. He could’t get the formula into its tiny mouth.
Through the magic of social media, Mr. Lyon eventually found a person who knew how to care for a baby mouse. There was a handoff in a parking lot, and Mr. Lyon hopes Orphie is doing well.
“That little thing fought for two days without its mother because I didn’t know what to do,” he said. “I thought the little mouse is a fighter who deserves to live.”
The website of the Pennsylvania Game Commission says it is illegal to take in injured or orphaned wildlife unless a person is a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. I could find no specific mention of mice on the site, but mice are presumably wildlife.
Humane Animal Rescue’s Wildlife Center in Verona does not take in wild mice or rats “because those are not animals we would release into any community,” said Dan Rossi, chief executive officer. “They are vermin.”
Years ago I posed this question to a veterinary school doctor whose specialty is domestic rats and mice and other small mammals, including ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters and gerbils. Wild rats and mice “are completely different than domestic rats and mice,” the veterinarian said. “They are vermin that can carry disease, and they can bite. No animal lover should feel bad about killing them.”
Exterminators will answer your call and take your money to take away rodents and kill them. In some communities, taxpayers can call local animal control employees who will pick up mice and rats kill them.
Mr. Lyon hopes to never see another mouse in his house, but he won’t put out traps or poison. His online research indicates “they don’t like peppermint and other essential oils. So now my entire garage and motorcycle smell like peppermint.” and