They destroy crops, bite people, and transmit disease. New South Wales, Australia, has not seen a plague of this magnitude since the early 1980s.
Sydney (AP) – The Australian state of New South Wales is struggling with the worst mouse plague in around 40 years.
Now the state is primarily providing its farmers and producers with financial aid equivalent to around 32 million euros, as the state’s agriculture minister, Adam Marshall, told the radio station 2GB. This is intended to compensate for the losses suffered as a result of the damage, and small businesses and households should receive discounts for buying traps and poison. Accordingly, farmers are supposed to be given chemical poison baits free of charge “to fight this scourge”.
Marshall said, “We haven’t seen a plague on this scale since the early 1980s, and everyone has been hoping that the cool winter conditions would curb the numbers of mice. Nothing has worked so far. ”He announced that he would like to obtain approval for a previously banned poison. The so-called bromadialon is “the strongest mouse poison” that you can get in the world. The rodent plague has been raging in the state for months.
From early January to late April, 23 cases of leptospirosis were reported to the state health department. It’s a rare disease that can lead to kidney failure and meningitis – and is often transmitted by mice. In all of 2020, there were 11 cases, according to the Australian news agency AAP.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210513-99-580784 / 2
Marshall at 2GB
