‘Horrid situation:’ Western Australia mouse plague reaches epic proportions

A mouse plague in Western Australia’s Mid West has left residents and business owners fighting a daily battle to clear away carcasses and clean up after rodents invading homes, shops and streets.

Morawa Shire President Karen Chappel said it was a “horrid” situation and they were tired of dealing with mice.

“You’re constantly picking up carcasses and cleaning up after them, trapping them and baiting them,” she said.

“It’s a daily task to go around and collect mice carcasses in your home or your business and discard them and you know, get ready for the next day when you go through the same process.

“And it is the odour, the stench of dead mice, and not just dead mice but mice themselves, there’s always there’s that terrible smell of mice.”

Ms Chappel said it was a real health risk and they encouraged people to bait and consider high levels of hygiene.

“It’s a bit like going back to Covid again, washing your hands constantly, using hand sanitiser, and being really, really careful because it is risky from a disease perspective,” she said.

“I’ve heard of people that had mice in their beds, the other day someone opened their oven and 14 mice jumped out, I live with it as well.

“You open draws and mice have been in, they chew your books, they get into cars, they eat wiring, they get into the back of dryers or washing machines and into air conditioners.

“Not only are you living with the filth of mice, you’re living with the consequences of them chewing anything they can get their teeth on and having to repair or buy a new washing machine.

“It’s just such a large issue, and the impact on the residents is quite profound.”

Scientists warned a mouse plague could threaten $1bn worth of grain crops in Western Australia if urgent action was not taken last month.

Farmers found about 4000 burrows per hectare in crops stretching from parts of the Mid-West, Wheatbelt and Goldfields-Esperance in Western Australia.

High numbers of mice were seen running wild through the Western Australian cropping zones with some paddocks recording up to 8000 mice per hectare.

Now townsfolk are dealing with the plague seeing the WA Health Department issue a health alert urging people in Morawa and surrounding areas to stay safe handling dead mice and to protect their homes and family.

CSIRO Research Officer Steve Henry visited Western Australia in March and said the situation had worsened since then.

“The sort of videos that I’m seeing, that farmers are sending me are very similar to what we were seeing in NSW in 2021 so it’s a really bad, bad plague in anybody’s terms,” he said.

Mr Henry said the 2021 NSW outbreak cost about $660m, but that did not take into account the psychological impact it had on people affected by the mice plague.

He said unlike other problems, you could escape a drought or extreme heat by going inside and closing a door, but when had a mouse plague, mice would be inside your home.

“They’re in your food cupboards, in your clothing cupboards, they’re in your linen cupboard and then, when you go to bed at night, they’re running across the bed,” he said.

The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority approved an application from Grain Producers Australia to use of a stronger bait to kill the mice earlier this week.

Mr Henry said it was the same toxin being used by farmers but was mixed at a stronger rate so every grain of bait contained a lethal dose, which should lead to better outcomes for farmers.

“It’s very, it’s very difficult to end an outbreak of this magnitude with bait simply because there are so many mice everywhere, but it will certainly reduce the localised impacts on crops and those sorts of things,” he said.

“The 50 gram bait is not a silver bullet, it will always be better than the 25g bait, but it won’t be the perfect solution in circumstances where there’s a huge amount of other food in the system.”

Morawa Roadhouse operator Jamie Appleton said while it had been one of the best seasons for crops on record, the mice population exploded with an abundance of food and great weather.

“We’re really hoping for some cold weather to kill little b*****ds, to be honest,” he said.

Mr Appleton said it took him an extra hour to clean his store each day and look through everything, but was thankful he had not lost much stock after spending hundreds of dollars on bait.

“We continually bait inside and out all the time, every day, that’s all we’re doing and we’ve largely got it under control,” he said.

“People are over it, I’m fortunate I can afford to replace stuff, but there’s people in town that can’t do that and it’s a lot of stress for people.

“Imagine you come home and you’ve lost all your stuff out of your pantry, your sheets and bedding are wrecked, you know, and you’ve got young kids, and you know it’s the impost you just don’t bloody need.”