Runaway Rodent Rescued

By: Miss Grad                                                                                                     

For four days, a runaway mouse was hiding throughout room 13, until last Wednesday, 26 August, Angelene Woo (grade 12) came to the rescue and caught this escapee during apologetics class. 

Sometime between Saturday night on August 22^nd and early morning on Monday, the 24^th, a mouse in the science classroom slipped out of its cage. Miss Seckler, the new physics and physical science teacher, arrived at approximately 7:30am on Monday and made this discovery. She counted and recounted four mice, though she had purchased five during the weekend. Seckler thought her eyes were failing her, because the gaps between the wire meshing are only about 7 millimeter apart; how did the mouse manage to squeeze through this seemingly impossible slit? Miss Seckler searched throughout the room, frantically opening cupboards and ruffling through paper piles, to no avail. She assumed that the mouse was never to be found again.

On the afternoon of the 22^nd, Miss. Seckler purchased these mice at Chew Thean Yeang Aquarium Pet Shop in Georgetown. She also bought a ball python, whom she named Tesla, after Nikola Tesla, the physicist, engineer and inventor of the Tesla coil. These furry friends were purchased to become entrées for the slithering snake; ball snakes consume about one mouse every ten days. It appeared as if Tesla would only be fed for forty days now. 

But during D block on Wednesday, the 26^th, Angelene Woo was watching a video during apologetics class, and saw the white, wandering mouse nibbling by the trach can.

Instead of shrieking in fear, which would have caused squeaking from Mr. Mouse, Woo acted upon instinct, crept over to the trashcan, and scooped it up with her bare hands. The mouse ran up her arm, and she reacted by petting it!

As Woo said, “I gave it some love after it’s been lost for so long.”

She then put it into the mice’s new cage, a fish tank without any escapable gaps. Perhaps animal control work is in her future after graduation.

The class cheered at Woo’s bravery. Along with receiving admiration from her peers, Miss Seckler also expressed her thankfulness and relief.

But is the mouse relieved about his recapture? How long does he have before he meets his fate with Tesla?  

                                                               Photo Credit: Jessica Seckler