Grieving Mice Hold Funeral for Their Mum in Heartbreaking Story

GRIEVING MICE HOLD FUNERAL FOR THEIR MUM IN HEARTBREAKING STORY
WITH PIX AND VID
By Shuk Yee Tsang
A family of rescue mice mourn the loss of their mother by gathering around her body, trying to wake her and eventually covering her with bedding in an emotional display.
The touching scenes were captured by Sophie Wilcher, 32, an animal rights advocate and animal carer from Sydney, Australia.
The video shows the mice licking their mother’s face, sniffing her and repeatedly approaching Sophie before returning to the body.
As the group processed the loss, they began carrying bedding and newspaper over to Stuartina’s body, eventually covering her completely “like a blanket”.
One particularly emotional moment shows Stuartina’s son Kendrick, who himself had cancer, lying beside and on top of his mother while the other mice groomed him even after his passing.
Sophie said Kendrick died just two days later from a heart attack and the pair were buried together.
Mum mouse Stuartina Little, was peacefully euthanised at home by an exotic vet due to age-related health issues and a suspected tumour.
According to Sophie, the mice had experienced other losses before, but their reaction to their mother’s death felt very different.
Sophie adopted the mice after they were rescued from a hoarding situation involving more than 600 mice living in poor conditions.
Sophie said: “It was really difficult to watch them processing her death.
“They would come up to me and look at me and walk back over to her as if they were trying to show me something was wrong and I couldn’t do anything.
“But it was also really beautiful to witness as well, a full circle moment as they gathered bedding items and placed them on her the way she did for them when they were first born.
“While burying the body is a known survival behaviour for mice for predator avoidance, what’s interesting is they had processed three other cagemate deaths and did not go to the same lengths for their siblings as they did for their mother.
“Watching them with her was a whole other level.”
The footage has since sparked emotional reactions online, with many viewers saying it completely changed the way they see mice.
Sophie said: “I wanted people to see how intelligent and socially complex mice are.
“They are sentient beings who have strong bonds with their family members and that deserves to be recognised.
“I’ve received so many messages from people saying they’re either no longer scared of mice or their minds have been changed about the way they view them.
“We share a huge percentage of genetic, physiological and psychological similarities with mice, which is why they are used in laboratories for science.
“Yet people often refuse to accept those same similarities when it comes to recognising their ability to feel love, pain and suffering.”
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