But did they have valid visas?

Some stowaways came aboard United Airlines flight 897 from Washington Dulles to Beijing last Sunday – eight mice, to be precise.

Cleaning crews discovered the mice, and Chinese health authorities were summoned. They baited and set traps, and eventually found eight baby mice (both living and dead).

Then the fun began. The story leaks to the local press, and spreads wildly on the internet. Sounds of disgust seem to arise everywhere. The mice, according to one report, were living among unused airplane pillows!

Maybe it was just too rich a chance to tweak the U.S. after months of news reports over unsafe toys, toothpaste and other stuff coming from China. With fanfare, authorities seized the plane for two days and announced that they would test the mice for fatal viruses, such as the plague.

Test results were just released today: The mice are virus-free and have no parasites.

In a statement, China’s watchdog safety agency, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said that it “had informed UA in writing of the quarantine efforts and lab test results,” Xinhua news agency says in this report.

“Experts said mice could spread more than 35 fatal viruses or cause serious accidents if they chewed wiring in the plane. They also commented that it was very rare to find so many mice on one aircraft.”

If internet postings are any indication, it appears that United Airlines has a public relations crisis on its hands. Here are a handful of postings at online forums that my assistant dug up at various internet sites:

1) “It’s really nauseating. Every time I come back to China from the U.S. I take United Airlines. I really feel horrible after hearing about this.” -- a Jan. 8 posting on Sohu.com

2) “Beware! The mice are biological weapons!” -- a Jan. 8 posting on Sohu.

3) “It’s China’s Year of the Mouse! Has Mickey Mouse come on a tour to Beijing?” -- a posting from Tianjin on 163.com

4)  “With the approach of China's Year of the Mouse, American mice have taken United Airlines and flown over the ocean to deliver U.S. President Bush's New Year greetings to Chinese netizens. But unluckily they were caught soon after landing! – a Jan. 8 posting from Nanning on netease.com

5) “The punishment is too gentle. The airplane should be held for a couple of months so that United Airlines won't dare bring mice next time.” – Jan. 10 posting on sina.com

6)  “Don’t choose United Airlines! It’s disgusting. It’s the worst airline company in the world.” – a Jan. 8 posting on sohu.com

7) “Can you imagine what would have happened if the same thing occurred on a Chinese airplane going to the United States?” – a Jan. 9 posting from Shenzhen on sina.com

Comments

[A B]

Does it matter what color of cat was used to catch the mice?

[Smallworld]

#5 was actually posted by me. It is really a small world and UA sucks!

[jc]

Since these are US rats, let's talk about rat-rights! It would be violation of rat-rights if Chinese totalitarian government puts them into custody or even kills them, in which case the US embassidor should vehemently protest ... let's demand immediate release of them rats or at least allowing the US consulate personell to pay them a visit!