A Dutch political party, the Party for Animals is obviously in league with the Animal Uprising™. They have forbidden the killing of mice in their parliamentary offices in the Binnerhof. It's all about the rights of vermin!
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The Dutch Party for Animals, which entered parliament for the first time last November, has forbidden the laying of poison to deal with a mouse infestation in its offices, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The party, which campaigns for animal rights and compassionate farming, will only allow humane traps in the parliament wing where its offices are housed, allowing trapped mice to be released unharmed, the daily De Telegraaf reported.
The Binnerhof, being leftover from medieval times, appears to have an ongoing problem with vermin of the rodent persuasion. So the party is exporting the problem to the rest of the Netherlands! How very nice of them. This, of course, ignores a few pertinent facts about mice.
Worldwide, rats and mice spread over 35 diseases. Rodent-borne diseases are spread directly to humans through bite wounds, consuming food or water that is contaminated with rodent feces, coming in contact with surface water contaminated with rodent urine, or through breathing in germs that may be present in rodent urine or droppings that have been stirred into the air (a process known as “aerosolization”). Diseases from rodents are also spread indirectly to humans by way of ticks, mites, and fleas that transmit the infection to humans after feeding on infected rodents. In some cases, the rodents are the reservoirs (carriers) of the diseases, while in other cases the ticks, mites, or fleas act as the disease reservoirs.
So if you visit the Party of Animals office, you may want to wear a hazmat suit. Unless you're fond of inhaling mouse urine or feces, of course. Here's a cheerful list of the diseases known to be spread directly by rodents. Here's the list of indirect transmission diseases that mice can vector to humans. Just think: they may be exporting this all over the Netherlands!
