Australian family homeless after mice spark house fire in ‘nightmare’ plague
- Millions of mice have swarmed schools, homes and hospitals in parts of New South Wales and Queensland, with some even eating each other
- The plague is threatening Australia’s US$51 billion agriculture sector, with many farmers abandoning crops as they’re just ‘going to get eaten’
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Mice plague overwhelms farmers in Australia
A family in New South Wales this week lost everything they owned after mice chewed through wiring, sparking a fire that quickly engulfed the house.
Rebekah Ward of Narrabri Shire, north of NSW, told 9News that “half the town” tried to save her house, but the mice had done enough damage.
The mother of three said the family had been living a “nightmare” for weeks, with mice crawling over the children in their sleep and stealing food.
“They crawl over the kids at night. They are in our shoes, they are on our benches, they are everywhere,” she said. “They eat the food. We’ve had to put the food into a toolbox. They will bite you on the back. They are a nightmare.”
Millions of mice have swarmed schools, homes and hospitals in the eastern states of New South Wales and Queensland, wreaking havoc and leaving entire towns suffocating from a lingering pungent odour.
Now there are reports of them munching on the remains of dead rodents and even predictions that they could reach Sydney in a matter of weeks, riding on freight trucks and food crates.
