Wanted: children to rear harvest mice at home for wild release in Devon

Teenagers Eva Wishart and Emily Smith launch project to breed and release 250 of the tiny animals by September

Children in Devon are being invited to become “citizen captive breeders”, rearing harvest mice at home for release into the wild to help revive endangered nature.

Eva Wishart and Emily Smith bred several hundred harvest mice in tanks in their garages and released them on a nature reserve in Devon, south-west England, where the mice have begun breeding in the wild again.

Eva founded Wild Pets after feeling sorry for traditional pets such as hamsters and goldfish that are confined to cages and small spaces, while also worrying about the extinction crisis and ecological collapse. She began breeding harvest mice aged 10.

In 2025 her Wild Pets project was a runner-up in Prince William’s junior Earthshot competition, with crowdfunding supporting the first harvest mouse release.

The new population survived and maternal nests – distinctive grass balls expertly woven and suspended in tussocky grassland or scrub by the females – were found on the reserve this year. Chris Packham called the Wild Pets concept “truly sensational” on BBC’s Springwatch.

Eva said young wild breeders would require a certain sense of “responsibility but most of all, really, enthusiasm, because if you’re really enthusiastic and passionate about something, with a bit of help, you’ll probably do it. Mainly we’re just looking for passionate kids.”

Emily said taking even modest action to help wildlife alleviated feelings of anxiety about environmental destruction. “It definitely makes you feel a lot better in the long run. It just makes you feel like you’re actually doing something rather than just watching it all happen,” she said.

Packham said: “It’s so inspirational when young people think of an idea and then make it happen. It’s so, so important. What I like about young people doing things is that they think clearly, speak clearly and they get things done. Top work Eva and Emily. This is a really brilliant, brilliant project.”

Eva said: “In the first year we’re just inspiring 20 kids, but then, next year, we’re going to inspire the whole country to become conservationists and care about the natural world.”