Australia is set to blitz its rapidly growing mouse infestation with thousands of litres of rodent poison dubbed “napalm for mice”.
For months, tens of millions of mice have plagued a 600-mile stretch of farm land on the eastern coast between Brisbane and Melbourne, and experts have warned drastic action is needed.
The critters have decimated crops and food storage units, as well as invading homes, schools and hospitals.
Heavy rain, mixed with the perfect amount of hot and dry spells over recent months have led to a bumper harvest, allowing rodents to thrive.
Mice live for two or three years and can multiply quickly, with just two able to produce a 400-strong colony in 12 weeks, according to estimates.
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(Image: via REUTERS)
It is feared the issue could become a full blown pandemic lasting up to two years “without a concerted baiting effort” before the Australian winter is over.
The government in New South Wales has bought 5,000 litres of bromadiolone – a substance currently banned for use on agricultural land – as part of a $50million (£27.2m) package.
But the authority is desperate for the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority to award it emergency approval, so it can launch an unprecedented extermination programme.
(Image: MELANIE MOERIS via REUTERS)
The substance can prove lethal within a day of being consumed by a mouse or rat, according to the National Pesticide Information Center.
Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall said the poison would be “the equivalent of napalming mice” across the affected regions.
However, the government has been warned that such a toxin will also likely kill other animals that prey on mice, including eagles, snakes and owls.
While some farmers worry it could also pose a threat to their livestock.
It comes after some described seeing the ground appearing to ‘move’ with masses of the critters as they filmed hordes of thousands of mice running around just metres from their homes.
(Image: REUTERS)
One piece of stomach-churning footage shows endless streams of dead and alive mice ‘raining down’ to earth as a farmer empties a silo of grain.
The clip was captured by a reporter investigating the growing crisis on a farm in Tullamore, in New South Wales, about 208 miles north west of Sydney.
ABC’s Lucy Thackray said it started “raining mice” as a farmer cleaned out his auger.
One family lost their home after mice chewed through wiring, leading to a devastating house fire.
The unnamed mum told Daily Mail Australia : “Mice were just jumping from the roof. Around the house and into the neighbour’s, there’s dead, burnt mice.”
Fisherman Aaron Graham caught a Murray cod with 10 mice in its mouth on the Macquarie River in New South Wales.
He said the local cod population are doubling in size as they have developed an appetite for eating the mice as they swim across rivers.
Channel 10 News Sydney claimed the mice could now be “marching towards” Australia’s biggest city to “invade” by August.
According to NSW Farmers Vice President Xavier Martin, the value of crops may drop by up to $1 million (£546.5m) if baits and traps fail to work.
Napalm was created for the United States Chemical Warfare Service in the early 1940s within a top secret lab at Harvard University.
The firebomb fuel gel mixture became a key element of US military action during the Vietnam War.