The current mouse infestation across western NSW is a natural occurrence,' a spokeswoman said.
'NSW Health staff are responding with appropriate control measures.'
NSW
Western Area Health Service has also reported a case of leptospirosis -
a rare disease which can cause kidney failure and meningitis - as a
result of mice in domestic dwellings.
This month Melanie Moeris, from Gilgandra, shared footage of hundreds of mice scurrying over machinery on her family's farm.
She later took to Facebook to write: 'This is exactly what nightmares are made of! I can't even watch the videos.'
One
resident, Lisa Gore, from Toowoomba, said her friend had found a nest
of baby mice in her armchair while another person Karen Fox, from Dubbo,
said said found a mouse in the ceiling vent of her home, The Guardian
reports.
Meanwhile shopkeeper Naav Singh who works
at 5Star supermarket in Gulargambone, said he was now arriving to his
store five hours before opening to clean up after the mice and sweep
their droppings.
Mr Singh, who had now
reduced his stock to prevent items being destroyed by the rodents,
claimed on some nights staff were catching 'over 4000 or 500' rodents.
He
told The Guardian: 'We don't want to go inside in the morning
sometimes. It stinks, they will die and it's impossible to find all the
bodies … Some nights we are catching over 400 or 500.'
He added: 'We have got five or six bins every week just filled with groceries that we are throwing out.'
This
month Louise Hennessy discovered dozens of rodents in ger water tank
filter at her property at Elong Elong in the New South Wales central
west - a region where mice have been ravaging crops.
Ms
Hennessey posted an image of the dead mice and clumps of fur tangled in
the filter to social media as health authorities begged locals to take
precautions to protect themselves against the potentially fatal disease
leptospirosis amid fears that the rodents could infect the drinking
water being supplied to local residents.
The mice plague is not just affecting
residents' health, but their livelihoods and NSW Farmers is now seeking
urgent action from the government as the mice plague continues to
decimate crops and destroy stored hay.
President
James Jackson said grain growers hold grave concerns about the winter
crop planting season, which is due to start within weeks.
'Farmers
need some more control options. We are requesting that an Emergency Use
Permit be issued for Zinc Phosphide to treat seed,' Mr Jackson said on
Wednesday.
'This will allow farmers to
have their own grain professionally treated, removing the biosecurity
risks posed by using foreign seed.
'It
will also reduce the cost of sourcing sterilised or de-vitalised grain
by farmers using their own treated seed to be sown for winter cropping.'
NSW Farmers is also seeking some financial assistance through a small grants program.
'Mouse
control is very costly. The severity of the current plague has resulted
in the need for multiple aerial and ground bait applications in
cropping regions,' Mr Jackson said.
'Potential options we are putting up
include a rebate on rodenticide products or a subsidy for ground and
aerial baiting. Action is needed now. This mice situation is only
getting worse.'
Rodent numbers have
exploded just as rural communities across New South Wales and Queensland
were recovering from droughts and fields were beginning to return to
green.
Favourable crop-growing
conditions in recent months have provided the rodents with the ideal
environment for eating and breeding.
In
Coonamble, about two hours north of Dubbo, resident Anne Cullen said
mice were running rampant across the town - and she even woke up with
one in her hair.
'It's terrible. It's
unbelievable. I came home after a couple of nights away staying down in
Dubbo with my daughter, and I went into the house, there were just mice
running everywhere,' she told the Today show.
'They have eaten my clothes. They have gotten into my wardrobe. There are holes in the couches. They are eating everything.'
In
an attempt to reduce their numbers, she now dumps $250 worth of rodent
poison around her sheds and sets water traps before the mice emerge in
the evenings.
She said farmers in the town were having to burn crops that weren't safely stored in silos because of contamination.
'The
hay is a worry. Apparently, the mouse droppings and the urine all
through, it's very damaging. It can disease cattle. It might be
ruined.'
2 comments:
As mouse dropping deteriorate in dry climates they become airborne. Inhaling the dropping can cause hantavirus a deadly disease mainly found in New Mexico.
Clearly they need more cats, hawks and owls.
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