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Mouse saved from OD

An overdose prevention group on the front line of Vancouver's drug crisis can now include a small, furry mouse on the list of lives it has saved.

Melissa Patton, a volunteer with the Overdose Prevention Society, says she administered the overdose-reversing drug naloxone to the nose of a pet mouse named Snuggles, after her owner brought in the comatose creature on Sunday.

Patton says the mouse had eaten some of her owner's heroin.

She says by the following morning the animal had made a full recovery and was happily chomping away on Cheerios and bananas.

She says the mouse's owner was going in for detox treatment the following day so asked Patton to care for Snuggles.

The society's Sarah Blyth says the incident highlights how the organization's volunteers go above and beyond to look after the approximate 600 clients they see every day.



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