Australia’s mouse plague may not be over yet

Normally, winter would have drawn a line under the great mouse plague. But farmers are already on alert as the weather warms.

It’s impossible for many of us to imagine the horror of having your home invaded by mice, thousands upon thousands of critters raiding the pantry, fouling the linen, gnawing electrical wiring, burrowing into your bed while you sleep. Hospitals, schools, even a prison, weren’t safe. As if this past year hasn’t been tough enough, eastern Australia suffered one of the worst mouse plagues in living memory.

As Guy Hull writes today, mouse plagues now erupt in the grain growing regions of Australia on average every three years but the last bumper cereal crop created the perfect environment for an explosion in numbers. Usually winter deals with the problem, but worrying numbers have persisted – farmers are already on alert as the weather warms. This plague year is not done with us yet.