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hatrack

(59,439 posts)
Sun May 2, 2021, 09:04 PM May 2021

Horrible Drought, Record Fires, Massive Floods: Now Playing In Australia - A Mouse Plague







Australia, right now, feels a little biblical. There was a terrible drought, then the worst bush fires ever recorded. A flood came next. Now it’s the turn of the mice. The scale of the mouse plague is hard to comprehend. In the western districts of New South Wales (NSW), the country’s most populous state, millions of mice are now on the march. There are also serious infestations in southern Queensland, Victoria and South Australia.

On social media, farmers post videos showing the swarm in action, while farming organizations say the cost is already in the millions. When presenting reports of the mouse plague on Sydney radio, I issue a warning about “material that may disturb some listeners.” The details are disgusting. Consider yourself warned.

Bradley Wilshire, a farmer near Dubbo, captured more than 500 in one night and then shared details of how to build the bucket trap in which he caught them. According to the Country Women’s Association, farmers have been bitten in their beds, with some protecting themselves from incursions by placing each leg of their bed or child’s cot in a bucket of sand or water.

In three towns, the mice even managed to invade the local hospital, biting patients. Then, a month ago, there was a second flood, which some thought might drown the mice in their burrows. The impact varied. In some places, the rain stabilized mouse numbers, but in other places the populations continued to boom. Worse, the flooding drove the mice indoors, with some eating through doors and the silicon around windows to gain entry.

EDIT

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/04/29/australia-mice-plague-animals/
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Horrible Drought, Record Fires, Massive Floods: Now Playing In Australia - A Mouse Plague (Original Post) hatrack May 2021 OP
in the immortal words of charlton heston, let my peeple go nt msongs May 2021 #1
Where there's that many mice, human illness will be a given. Laffy Kat May 2021 #2
Holy cow! 2naSalit May 2021 #3

Laffy Kat

(16,354 posts)
2. Where there's that many mice, human illness will be a given.
Sun May 2, 2021, 11:28 PM
May 2021

I wonder if they have hantavirus there? If not, it will be something else.

2naSalit

(86,054 posts)
3. Holy cow!
Sun May 2, 2021, 11:53 PM
May 2021

I think that would cause considerable brain damage for a lot of people, it sure would for me.

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