An Australian farmer has shared a horrifying video of thousands of mice inside his barn as the country struggles with a rodent plague.
Brody Roche filmed swarms of mice scurrying across the ground and over machinery on his New South Wales farm on Tuesday.
He watched on helplessly as hundreds of the creatures ran across two tractors and covered the bags of grain.
The shocking footage comes after torrential downpour and dangerous flooding across New South Wales and southern Queensland created perfect breeding conditions for the out-of-control mice infestation to spread across the country.
An explosion of mice in recent months has seen rodents invading homes, fields and some residents spotting the rodents in their water supplies.
NSW Farmers are now seeking urgent action from the government as the mice plague continues to destroy crops.
President of NSW Farmers, James Jackson, said: ‘Farmers need some more control options. We are requesting that an Emergency Use Permit be issued for Zinc Phosphide to treat seed.
‘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.’
The farmers organisation 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 added.
Read more: Daily Mail
