Only One Mouse Fit for Kingdom

I only hope we never lose sight of one thing--that it was all started by a mouse.

--Walt Disney

*

It was, in fact, a mouse that was hard not to notice on a recent Disneyland day, rustling in the shrubbery by the Carnation ice cream stand off Main Street. Make no mistake, this was a mouse of the furry, four-legged variety--and a darn cute one he was, enjoying the largess of visitors who dripped bits of pecan praline and chocolate ice cream.

But that encounter with, let’s call him Little Mickey, begged the question: How does the Magic Kingdom treat mice who don’t wear pants or gloves?

Not to point fingers, but apparently Big Mickey doesn’t take an advocate’s role for his wildlife cousins.

One park employee, who requested anonymity, was explicit: “Mice are caught in traps with sticky tape. Sometimes they tear their feet off escaping. Other times we find them screaming in the trap, and then we have to drown them.”

When Disneyland spokesman Tom Berccato was asked about this, he gave the distinct impression that it is a subject that the organization would rather not address.

“We go by industry standards of termination,” he said.