Disturbing footage has emerged of hoards of mice scurrying across farms in Western and South Australia.
The footage shared by farmers in several parts of Australia showed swarms of the vermin scurrying around silos and across crops.
Some farmers were being driven to extreme measures to control the mouse plague, including shooting the rodents with rifles or setting fire to precious crops to start anew.
Steve Henry from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) said the overrun farms were “well above plague levels”.
Mice populations reach plague levels when there are more than 800 rodents per hectare.
“When we see a plague, it’s more like a whole lot of satellite populations growing and growing until they all join up,” Henry added.
The researcher was no stranger to Australian mouse plagues, with the scenes reminiscent of the last major mouse plague in 2021.
In 2020 and 2021, rodent populations in NSW reached plague levels triggering a devastating agricultural crisis and causing an estimated $1 billion in damages.
The ideal breeding conditions and rise in mouse populations threatened farmers already hit by fuel price increases and fertiliser shortages.
Andrew Weidemann from Grain Producers Australia said the most recent hoards were “another kick in the guts”.
“Not only are farmers impacted, it’s the community, it’s anybody. It’s the small business, it’s the supermarkets, it’s the baker,” he told 9News.
Pockets of the plague were threatening up to $3 billion worth of exports, 9News reported, while recent rainfall in other areas is seeing mouse populations rise.
An emergency application was now before the federal chemical regulator to potentially double the dose of the lethal ingredient in bait from 25 to 50 grams.
“Our research shows that with the 50g bait you kill over 80% of the mice, 80% of the time,” Henry said.