A plague of mice has spread 1,000km across Australia causing widespread damage to the eastern coast.
Farmers are sharing images and videos that have gone viral showing mice carpeting farmlands at night, pouring out of grain feeders and storage plants.
The mice are decimating crops and industrial food storage and flooding buildings in rural towns. They have been found inside homes, in children’s classrooms and hospitals
It is estimated that the infestations have caused at least A$100 million in damage to crops in New South Wales.
Xavier Martin, the vice-president of the NSW Farmers’ Association believes the total damage will exceed one billion dollars.
Farmers are being urged to help drive away millions of mice using an app to track infestations.
Mouse Alert, the government app, shows infestations from southeast Queensland to the New South Wales-Victoria border.
The Australian government science agency, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial research Organisation (CSIRO) told farmers to download the Mouse Alert app to monitor where the infestations are spreading.
Farmers are currently using poison bait and other traps to combat the spread of rodents. But the government has applied for approval to use a poison called bromadiolone on farms as part of the package.
However, environmentalists fear that the chemical will also kill animals that prey on mice, like eagles, snakes and owls.
Australian scientists and researchers are studying how genes can be safely altered to make female mice infertile.
LSL News.