Western Australia Experiencing An Out Of Control Mouse Plague
Can we make a connection between a fertiliser crisis, coming famine, an attack on food production …. and even a hantavirus outbreak (caused by rodents) outbreak?
Western Australia Experiencing An Out Of Control Mouse Plague
Western Australia is currently experiencing an out of control mouse plague with populations exceeding 4,000 mice per hectare in some areas.
The mice are devastating newly planted crops, contaminating local businesses, and forcing grain producers to urgently apply stronger bait in order to mitigate hundreds of millions of dollars in potential agricultural damage
A leading mouse researcher is calling for urgent action as he says mice are at plague proportions in Western Australian grain paddocks. A population exceeding 800 mice per hectare is defined as a plague.
Residents say that the number of mice in their homes is also unprecedented, with the little rodents chewing through plastic containers, milk cartons and food containers.
One pest controller said that some infestations are at levels he has never seen before.
ABC.net reports: CSIRO research officer Steve Henry, who has studied reported mouse numbers in paddocks from Geraldton to Esperance, said the figures were alarming.
“I’m really concerned,” Mr Henry said.
“When you’re getting over two to three hundred mice per hectare, then you’ve really got cause for concern.
“They’re counting between three and four thousand burrows [six to eight thousand mice] per hectare in some locations.”
Mr Henry said he visited WA in 2022 when numbers were high, but this year the problem was worse.
Grain paddocks surround the small community of Morawa, 360 kilometres north-east of Perth.
Long-term resident and pest controller, Peter Cekanauskas, came home from a week away to find mice had taken root in his pantry.
“It was like a horror story,”he said.
“A dozen mice were visibly running over everything, amongst torn bags of self-raising flour and sugar.”
He placed 7.5 kilograms of bait around his property, which was consumed in less than three days — an amount he estimated could kill about 75 kilograms of mice.
Mr Cekanauskas said the problem was widespread, and he was being called out to more mouse infestations than ever before.
He said a resident told him mice had eaten their way through a plastic container of rolled oats, and nibbled through UHT milk containers, creating a flood.
“My supplier of chemicals has remarked that he’s had an increase of sales in this area,” he said.
Farmers in several parts of Australia are being overrun by hoards of mice, with an explosion in population numbers threatening $1 billion worth of crop exports.
Favourable breeding conditions have seen rodent populations sharply rise over the past weeks with one CSIRO research officer now saying numbers are “well and truly above plague levels”.
Disturbing footage from the Adelaide Plains sees countless mice illuminated by a vehicle’s headlights scurrying across a farm.
Similar vision from Western Australia shows a swarm of rodents overwhelming a road, while another video shows them circling a grain silo, the ground appearing to move with the sheer number of them.
Chickens happily eat mice. Need to unleash a big flock of chickens as part of pest control measures.
Probably all of the above. Feral cats needed, lol. Plus the drought following the excess rain had an impact on this. All part of the plan.