Some grocery store workers are reporting nightly extermination sessions that tally up to 600 mice
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An out-of-control infestation of mice in the eastern states of Australia is making life difficult for local farmers, grocers and community members.
Live Science reports the infestation is so bad that some unlucky farmers have lost their entire harvests to the mice. Hotels in the infested areas are closing their doors because the unwanted guests are dirtying their rooms and grocery stores are reporting nightly extermination sessions that tally up to 600 mice.
On March 20, ABC News uploaded a video on Twitter that puts the infestation in perspective:
Steve Henry, a researcher at Australia’s national science agency, attributes the plague to an unusually abundant grain harvest, Live Science reports. According to the site, the surplus of grain drew in a surplus of mice earlier in the season than anyone had anticipated.
“They start breeding earlier and because there’s lots of food and shelter in the system,” Henry said (via Live Science). “They continue to breed from early spring right through into the autumn.”
Alan Brown, a farmer from New South Wales, believes the plague is just starting, Science Times reports. According to the site, one pair of breeding mice can produce a new litter every three weeks, potentially birthing over 500 offsprings in one season.
HuffPost reports that efforts to poison the mice are backfiring as mouse carcasses started appearing in water tanks. According to the site, public health authorities are now issuing warnings about the potential for bacteria in the water.
Over a dozen mayors in New South Wales have reached out to the state government to declare the infestation an official plague, The Guardian reports. The mayors are also asking for help in the form of additional bait but no aid has been delivered so far, according to the site.
“I can’t understand why (they won’t declare it a plague). It’s worse than the 1984 mice plague,” said Al Karanouh, the mayor of one New South Wales town (via The Guardian). “I think they don’t want to do it because they’re going to have to fork out a lot of money.”
Matilda Boseley wrote for The Guardian that the government “may be wary of spending up to tens of millions to try to eradicate the mouse plague, when a cold snap or heavy rains could wipe them out naturally.”
HuffPost reports that a temperature drop or a heavy rainfall could drastically reduce the infestation.
“If that rain comes our way that will certainly put a big dent in it,” Karanouh said (via The Guardian).
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The little bastards can carry Hanta Virus, go research that. You want a real viral booger man Hanta Virus is it, thank God it isn’t highly contagious unless the Chicoms start playing around with it giving it gain of function.
Do they have that in Oz?? Thought it was mostly a N American thing. yes/no??
First discovered during the Korean War, several US troops got it and they had no idea what was killing them. The North American variant is only spread via rodent feces and urine but the South American Variant has shown the ability for human to human transmission. Don’t tell that to the F’ng Chicoms.
And a 38% mortality rate.
ooOOOooohhh shouldn’t everyone in N America be wearing masks then?? This is WAY higher than covids mortality rates.
oh wait… everyone is wearing masks, except those pesky antimaskers wanting to kill granny, so maybe THATS why nobody is dying from the hanta virus… nice save demoncraps…
Last Spring into Fall. Here in My area of upstate NY. We had something like that.It was not as bad as what is going on there,but it was unusual. Living near woods one can expect mice when the weather changes. However last year the mice problem for everyone was really bad. Where usually catching 5-10 mice a year is normal.Folks were catching upwards to a hundred.Sometimes 2 in a single trap. Then as Winter came they were gone.Looks like the decided to go to Australia.
Why don’t they just let cats out of the shelters and let them go wild? Put groups in grocery stores, on farms, etc. That would take care of a lot of it.
Because two years ago the Australian government began an intensive program to cull cats.
Actions/Consequences and all that jazz.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/magazine/australia-cat-killing.html
Thanks for that info., Farmer.
I don’t know why it’s so hard for governments to use natural measures rather than idiotic decision making to solve problems. They never look at consequences before making asinine decisions.
Because the people making the decisions are completely disconnected from the natural world.
It’s roughly like going to your mechanic for a root canal because he has tools.
HSF – please stop talking about something you know nothing about. Seriously, you have no idea about this particular issue.
“ Feral cats threaten the survival of over 100 native species in Australia. They have caused the extinction of some ground-dwelling birds and small to medium-sized mammals. They are a major cause of decline for many land-based endangered animals such as the bilby, bandicoot, bettong and numbat.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/06/australian-wildlife-20-times-more-likely-to-encounter-deadly-feral-cats-than-native-predators
That is why the cats need to be wiped out.
Do not be ignorant. The cats are a far bigger issue than the mice. Mice plagues come and go here. The cats just need to go.
An Aussie I met years ago told me that the Australian .gov imported/released the feral cats (decades ago) to control the rabbit population and the population of cats exploded. I dunno if that’s true, but he had no reason to lie, near as I can tell.
N – that would not surprise me. But my guess is most are the result of wandering house cats that want feral or cats that were dumped. I will look into it.
Edit: that is a false rumor. Cats were introduced by Europeans who brought them as pets and also as rodent deterrents. That did not work. Foxes and cats both cause significant damage to the local fauna.
HSF – are you serious? Oz has millions of feral cats. Millions. They are wiping out native animals by the hundreds of millions. The damage they are doing to the ecosystem is enormous. Your point seems to be let the introduced feral cat population destroy the native animal population because of mice?
I hope you are being sarcastic, because that comment is truly ignorant.
Actually cats are a terrible idea for rodent control. They catch one, play with it, maybe eat it, then go sleep it off.
On our small farm the best mouser was our cocker spaniel. I taught her to find and kill mice. She’d spend the day around the feed bins and barn hunting, digging out and killing every rodent she could find. Did the same with our shepherd, only she went after squirrels too. Dogs are much better rodent control than cats, any day.
I’ve never had a dog that went after mice or rats. However, the dogs were great at keeping out bigger pests, like raccoons.
I live in the house my grandparents built back in the ’40s. When I moved in, before a week was out, I had a rat problem. Had to use traps. A friend talked me into taking the stray cat that turned up at her house. After that, I didn’t have a problem. When he died, the rat problem returned.
I am now no longer without a cat in my house. I also feed outside stray cats that hang around. I haven’t had any mice or rat problems with those cats around.
Can you tell me how to train a dog to go after mice and rats? It would be useful. But I don’t want to bring in a rat or mouse to train it.
Breed choice offers you a distinct advantage, but simply working with them to get them to do what you want improves your chances regardless of your dog.
That was an awesome video.
Maybe the problem is I’m a large and extra-large dog fan. I don’t want small dogs.
We had a german shepherd after the spaniel. Taught her to go after mice as well which she loved… until squirrels. We had 20 walnut trees around the property so squirrel heaven.
This dog spent the day, every day, booking’n back and forth full bore, across the property. The squirrels took turns coming down for nuts on the ground. Shadow would spot one across the yard, on the ground, and run full tilt to get it. It’d go just out of reach and chatter at her. She’d spot the squirrel on the other side of the yard, on the ground and book it. Rinse and repeat, all day long. So we had this black streak flashing across the yard every couple minutes, all day. A marathoner.
Rodents were getting ignored until we got a blue heeler. One dog hunting squirrel and the other mice. Worked out great. no poisons, no traps and full rodent control.
My last dog, which was a yellow lab/greyhound mix, was definitely a squirrel chaser.
I had a Rhodesian Ridgeback cross who was hell on rodents. A few years back we had an infestation of voles, and Frank would present me with six or more dead voles a day.
What a good dog!
I used to have a problem with moles in the front yard but the cats took care of that. At the time, I didn’t know much about cats and didn’t realize with would go after moles. So that was a nice surprise.
Maybe we need an article and let everyone tell which animals take care of pest critters the best.
On a farm there is no shortage of mice and rats so its really easy. Making a game out of it is the simplest way and dogs will leap into it. If you are city, township its a little harder because they need an active target. Once they get the idea of the target they will hunt constantly, or when a target appears will immediately get on it.
Cats are for great for controlling the occasional or pesky persistent rodents like mice. But where mice/rats outnumber the cats ability/interest to catch and kill the targets, is where dogs come into play. Cats are ‘patient’ killers… dogs.. not so much they hunt by covering a lot of area, flushing, digging and sniffing out targets. Different applications… In Oz, dogs would be better suited to the problem
I live in a small city so would be harder.
You need a better class of cat. We have one barn cat- for 11 years now. She still looks like a young cat, has never been inside the house and keeps the barn and outbuildings rodent free. Keeping cats as pets serves a narrow range, allowing them to remain somewhat feral allows their natural instincts to fully develop.
My inside cats use the doggie dog to go in and out. They still have some outsidedness to them. They’re only inside when I put out food and when it’s really cold. But all of the cats outside are feral.
I only feed all of the cats, inside and outside, every other night to make sure they do some hunting on their own.
“Actually cats are a terrible idea for rodent control. They catch one, play with it, maybe eat it, then go sleep it off.”
Gotta disagree there. I’ve always used rescue cats to keep my shop clear of rodents. A hungry cat is a motivated cat. Little time for play if you’re hungry. They start out with the shop, as pickings get slim, they move out to the grounds, then to the neighbors properties in an ever increasing radius. They tend to kill everything they find, and bring back the remains for snacks later. In the summer, I have to clear out the stash spots of body parts in the shop every week to clear out the smell of death. I’ve told the neighbors not to use poisons, as the cats will solve their issues. They are happy with the results.
BUT… I must agree that for sheer slaughter capabilities, nothing touches a terrier (especially a rat terrier). I got a first hand exhibition from a friend with a similar rodent problem. These things waste no time eating their kill. They live for the slaughter. They will dig into a rat’s nest and kill everything that moves in like 50 seconds. And they’re loving every minute of it. It’s a sight to behold. So for immediate depopulation, borrow your friend’s terrier. For maintenance issues, cats work well (if you don’t feed them like a house cat). I give them affection and a warm place to sleep; they feed themselves, and sometimes bring me their excess.
I’m reading World in Collision. Hmmm
Food and water draw them in. Declare war!
I watch some Asian and Amazon Forest survival channels on YouTube. They are constantly eating rats (and wild boar) that they trap. Of course, the Romans were known for eating dormouse, especially during the time of the Empire when the so-called lower classes started moving up into prestigious positions.
Tastes like chicken…
I think I’d have to be at the point of death by starvation before even contemplating such a menu. And even then, could I? I’ve never been starving to that point, so who knows. I know people were reduced to that in the South during the War Between the States after their crops, food stores and animals were taken or destroyed.
No. More like racoon. Probably because both are omnivores.
Whether its locusts or rodents, these are just converters of plant into animal protein (like a cow). All are edible. Large rats are cleaned the same as squirrel, an yield maybe 10 oz. of meat. Cleaning small rats or mice would probably be as tedious as picking crab or lobster meat out of the smaller legs. Some do it but I don’t have the patience.
Sweet God in Heaven! It’s a Raging Rodent Rampage!! The only good thing that I can say about is, better y’all than us!!! (Ain’t I a stinker?! Bugs Bunny, in several cartoons)
Did anyone watch the series Alone? In one place they could eat mice and the contestants were mice catching and eating machines! They loved it. In another place the mice had disease, hanta virus as already mentioned I think and mice were a no go for sustenance. They were not happy campers because they were hungry! Any way moral of the story is if you are hungry enough mice will be a treat unless eating them will kill you….so know your local rodent diseases before you partake!
There is also, arguably WORSE, a plague of spiders, too, seeking refuge from floodwaters.
F*ck Australia.
https://www.accuweather.com/en/severe-weather/spider-plague-infests-parts-of-australia-amid-historic-flooding/920723
Zinc phosphide is always the best. They don’t die very for away from the bait meaning you can control where they die. Only works well in dry climates however
Need lots of Jack Russell Terriers , they work magnificently on rodents of all types .