“Micemageddon” in the Learning Commons

A video of a mouse that was spotted in the Alan Gilbert Learning Commons building has been widely circulated on Facebook this week. The video, titled “Micemageddon”, was shared via the ‘Spotted: The University of Manchester page’ and has been viewed over 17,000 times.

‘Spotted’ allows people to anonymously post pictures and videos of unusual things that they see around the University campus including several showing rodents.

In March last year, another video of a mouse in the Learning Commons was viewed on the ‘Spotted’ page over 16,000 times.

Mice eat sporadically from a number of different food sources throughout the day rather than relying on larger meals. According to the Manchester Council website, in order for traps to be effective “all rubbish and food waste should be removed.” So any crumbs and other food that is being dropped on the floor in University buildings, may be providing an alternative to the bait in the pest control traps.

There has also been extensive work on Oxford Road since last year, as part of the council’s GROW project which aims to “see more than £1 billion invested into city centre infrastructure by 2017”.

However, a council spokesperson told The Mancunion that they haven’t had an increase in the number of rodent reports in recent months. Which, they say, suggests that the problem hasn’t been exacerbated by the work. They did add that there are other pest control services that operate in Manchester so they couldn’t definitively say whether or not the road works have had an effect on the overall reports across the city.

The Mancunion contacted the University to ask if they were aware of any rodent problem and has received the following statement from ‘a University spokesperson’:

“The major building works currently taking place on campus are disturbing the ground, which will inevitably bother rodents and bring them to the surface. We are currently carrying out extensive baiting and trap laying in the buildings and areas surrounding the works as a result. If anyone spots a pest, they should report this to House Services on 0161 275 2606, who will arrange for our pest control contractor to attend to the issue.”