Fact Check

Toner Mouse

Do photographs show a mouse caught in a printer toner cartridge?

Published March 28, 2005

Claim:

Claim:   Photographs show a mouse caught in a printer toner cartridge.


Status:   Undetermined.

Example:   [Collected on the Internet, 2005]




WOULD YOU COME FIX THE PRINTER JAM, PLEASE?

He's not dead but he's sure stuck. (They do end up getting him out and
letting him loose for those of you that are mouse lovers). How'd you
like to get to work and find this problem? LOL .. hilarious!


Click to enlarge


Click to enlarge


Click to enlarge




Origins:   There isn't any real doubt that these are genuine (i.e., unaltered) photographs of a mouse in a printer toner catridge, but beyond that we don't yet know any of the specifics, such as:


  • Was the scene depicted a naturally-occurring one, or was it staged?
  • Was the mouse in the pictures found dead or alive?
  • If the mouse was dead, did it die from being crushed in the printer, or from some other cause?

As long-time keepers of pet rats our sympathies are with hoping the little mouse survived his predicament, but we recognize that not everyone is so charitably inclined towards rodents.

Last updated:   28 March 2005


David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

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