An infestation of mice at a top London university is causing students to abandon their library studies in the run-up to end-of-term exams.
King’s College London medical students have complained of rodents running across desks and over kitchen surfaces on Guy’s campus.
The sightings have prompted the creation of a miceofkcl Instagram account, where students have shared footage of the vermin in New Hunt’s House.
One video appears to show a mouse eating crumbs in a sandwich toaster in the library canteen. In another clip, a mouse sniffs nonchalantly around a computer keyboard.
The Instagram account has amassed hundreds of followers since being set up by two second-year students.
One said: “It disrupts our learning quite a lot. You really can’t be as focused on your work when mice are running around on the tables.”
The other added: “We’ve done a lot of research into it. It’s not healthy for students to be sitting in a place infested with mice. There are lots of reports about their droppings being toxic.”
Rachel Willis, 22, a final year nutrition student, suggested the university should get a cat to combat the infestation.
“I was using my keyboard the other day and it was quite oily. If mice have been going over the keyboards, that’s disgusting,” she said.
“I suppose the thing to do would be to ban food but that would be terrible for student wellbeing.”
Alice Smith, a biomedicine graduate, 22, said: “It’s a bit grim, especially in the food areas. There have always been signs saying ‘don’t leave your food out’ but you have to have food in the library or you’ll pass out.
“When I saw the video of them running over a panini maker I thought it was gross and terrible hygiene-wise.”
A KCL spokeswoman said: “King’s takes every precaution to prevent pest problems.
“We have a specialist pest control company delivering a continuous programme of prevention and management throughout the year in all our buildings and have increased that work in New Hunt’s House following some recent reports.”
