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Mickey's cousins unwelcome guests in Florida town
2006-12-30
Central Florida, the home of Walt Disney World, is typically invaded by visitors wearing mouse ears this time of year. But while Mickey Mouse's fans may be welcome, the residents of Apopka, a tiny town 25 miles north of the theme park, are disgusted by the hundreds of thousands of real mice that have overrun their community. 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. "It's pretty nasty," said Overfield, whose job includes trying to determine the cause of the infestation. His current theory says an overabundant crop of acorns may have encouraged well-fed mice to mate -- and mate some more. 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? "Gosh, they are all over the place," Sincavage said. "The stench is bad and the gnats around here are terrible from all the dead carcasses. It's just disgusting." Counter-measures by health authorities, who have established a special rodent command center, so far have been only partly successful. Besides dispensing traps and bait, authorities launched an air assault by releasing 17 barn and screech owls expected to feast on dozens of mice a day. News of the buffet apparently traveled far, luring many more birds of prey to the area. "We have more raptors than we've ever seen before," Overfield said. "They just line up along the telephone wires and dive down and pick stuff off." So far, Overfield said, the infestation has not sickened anyone, although the smell of all the rotting carcasses trapped in the walls of many homes and businesses is certainly nauseating. Overfield cautioned residents to be vigilant about inspecting their food supplies since the mice can eat through standard plastic storage containers. Although Orange County leaders recently allocated another $200,000 to continue the rodent battle, no one knows when or how the infestation might end.
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