Mice Plague Hits Australia, Farmers Pin Hope On Banned Poison From India: What We Know

Vast tracts of land in Australia¡¯s New South Wales state are being threatened by a mouse plague that the state government describes as ¡°absolutely unprecedented.¡± Just how many millions of rodents have infested the agricultural plains across the state is guesswork.

Mice wreak havoc in Australia

Several videos posted on social media showed carpets of mice scurrying across barn floors, crowded around machinery, and entering thick grain silos made of steel as farmers struggled to control the rodents.

¡°We¡¯re at a critical point now where if we don¡¯t significantly reduce the number of mice that are in plague proportions by spring, we are facing an absolute economic and social crisis in rural and regional New South Wales,¡± Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall said this month.

AP

The mice have also entered homes, inside containers and finding their way into water tanks, footage posted by local media channels showed. According to the local reports, they also bit farmers and patients in the hospital while they were asleep.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT ¨C Farmers are struggling as the biggest plague of mice in decades continues to sweep across Australia¡¯s New South Wales https://t.co/LTDpEKnIoy pic.twitter.com/PFf2eqaLTP

¡ª Reuters (@Reuters) May 26, 2021

Poison ordered from India

Bruce Barnes said he is taking a gamble by planting crops on his family farm near the central New South Wales town of Bogan Gate. ¡°We just sow and hope,¡± he said. The risk is that the mice will maintain their numbers through the Southern Hemisphere winter and devour the wheat, barley and canola before it can be harvested.

The crisis has prompted the New South Wales government to order 5000 litres of the banned poison Bromadiolone from India. "It¡¯s actually the strongest mouse poison we can get anywhere on the face of the earth that actually will kill these things within 24 hours," said Adam Marshall, the state¡¯s agriculture minister.

AP

The state government has also released $50 million ($39 million) in funding to tackle the infestation, which is gradually spreading to Queensland state. However, the order is yet to receive approval from the federal government over concerns that the potent pesticide may also kill other animals and family pets.

WATCH: The plague of mice attacking parts of Australia is turning into a horror story, with the rodents threatening to invade Sydney https://t.co/pRxfPOuLVs pic.twitter.com/N2d1bYrqr8

¡ª Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) May 28, 2021

Farmers hit hard

According to an AP report, the infestation is contaminating sorghum exports with animal droppings, causing quality downgrades and leading to cancelled shipments of the grain. The mice woes come as farmers in Australia's most populous state have already been hit by fires, floods and pandemic disruptions in recent years.

AP

Another local publication posted a video that showed how grave the crisis is at night.

MICE EVERYWHERE: Parts of rural Australia are enduring what has so far been a months-long plague of mice. https://t.co/zD7O286Tvz pic.twitter.com/9q50WcAXrH

¡ª ABC News (@ABC) May 28, 2021

Plagues seemingly appear from nowhere and often vanish just as fast. Disease and a shortage of food are thought to trigger a dramatic population crash as mice feed on themselves, devouring the sick, weak and their own offspring.