There has been a mouse plague going on in rural NSW for months, now. Things have pretty much gone from bad to apocalyptic.
It’s gotten to a point where mice are eating up farmers’ hay supplies, stripping shop shelves bare, and even creating an “economic and public health crisis”.
Now the government is spending $50 million on double-strength mouse poison, a product so strong it had been banned for use in Australia until now.
The situation almost sounds too wild to be true. But it’s not. Take a look at some of the footage below and see for yourself.
A blessing of good rainfall from Huey has not drowned out the #mouseplague in the central west and parts of the north west, as evidenced by this video from Nyngan, courtesy of local shearer Fergus Brown.#mouseplague pic.twitter.com/mU0B3XbOW5
— NSW Young Farmers (@NSWYF) March 24, 2021
Even if grain’s in silos, mice can get to it. Like Tyler Jones discovered in Tullamore when cleaning out the auger and it started raining mice #mouseplague #mice #australia pic.twitter.com/mWOHNWAMPv
— Lucy Thackray (@LucyThack) May 12, 2021
Great – the mice have been around so long they’ve become musical! 😫😬🎹
This old piano was in a Tullamore shed in central NSW. Now, it’s sadly beyond saving thanks to extensive damage caused by those jumping mice. Yet more mouse plague damage. Incredible video from Tracey Jones pic.twitter.com/YC93KUBJ4v— Lucy Thackray (@LucyThack) April 24, 2021
Rodent reporter back on the beat 🐁 🐭 and NO, they’re not going away, thanks for asking. Maree Pobje from Tottenham, central NSW shared these videos of thousands of mice tumbling down their grain and into a drum trap. Opportunity is the mother of invention, after all. Send lions pic.twitter.com/QmBnwZjyH5
— Lucy Thackray (@LucyThack) March 26, 2021
Mice enjoying my new truck. Twice as many jumping off the back once we started it. They still on the increase in southern NSW. Rain on the decrease. pic.twitter.com/dHlz0TDxMn
— Trigger Vale Studs – Andrew Bouffler (@AndrewBouffler) May 6, 2021
“I’ve lost a shed full of hay and I am not the only one,” Gilgandra farmer Norman Moeris. #Mice numbers are exploding in many parts of NSW and the winter crop is at risk. @NSWFarmers is calling for action 👉 https://t.co/uB0u1x40wR pic.twitter.com/K3E6txRUgS
— NSW Farmers (@NSWFarmers) March 16, 2021
#Mice numbers are exploding in many parts of NSW. Haystacks are being destroyed, silos invaded, winter crop sowing is at risk and there is a human health impact. @NSWFarmers is calling for action👉https://t.co/c17hSFMiVG#nswfarmers #miceplague pic.twitter.com/2HH8YnnqJM
— NSW Young Farmers (@NSWYF) March 16, 2021
Shit’s fucked.
It’s hoped that the mice will die off once winter comes along due to both the cold temperature and fewer crops to feed on, but things are still far from certain.
“Mice are digging quite extensive burrow networks out in paddocks and it’s pretty easy for them to get away from those nasty climatic conditions and continue to thrive if there’s plenty of food in the system,” CSIRO researcher Steve Henry told the ABC.
“What will happen during the winter is that breeding will slow down … and mice go into self-preservation mode to get through winter so they’re still there in spring.”
That’s where the bait comes in, to nab this plague in the butt once and for all.
Hopefully that super-strong, until-now-outlawed mouse poison does the trick and then farmers can get back to their normal lives.
