Victorian mousetrap snags modern-day mouse while on display at museum

Mousetraps: they just don't make 'em like they used to.

A Victorian mousetrap is still doing what it was designed to do, catch mice — albeit accidentally.

"Isn't it amazing that a mousetrap that is 155 years old is still doing its job?" says Guy Baxter, an archivist with the Museum of English Rural Life in Reading, England.

Baxter says the mousetrap, which was on display at the museum captured a mouse. The exhibit was behind glass, near mouse-friendly items, like straw, wood and textiles.

"I think he probably thought this was a nice place and unfortunately, he found the one thing that was more harmful to him than he to it," Baxter says.

The trap was manufactured by Colin Pullinger & Sons' in 1861. It's a time when Queen Victoria was on the throne, the U.S. Civil war had just started and Canada was still "British North America". They also had mice.

"Let's pay tribute to the Victorians, and how wonderfully they managed to make things," Baxter says.

The museum is debating if the mouse should become a permanent part of the display or be allowed to rest in peace,"we're not sure whether we should desiccate the mouse's body or give him a dignified burial somewhere." 

The museum has promised to let people know what they decide on their blog.