Australia needs some help dealing with the callithumpian hoards of mice infesting farm land and causing major damage throughout the country. Pesticides are a bad idea, since that would harm other animals that feed on the mice. Maybe hoards of cats would be the answer??
They have tried drowning, but that has only put a dent in the problem. We are talking massive hoards of mice!!
They are chewing through tons of grain and hay, destroying machinery, sending people to the hospital with bites, and all of this is due to a years-long drought followed by damaging floods affected the region.
They are calling it a plague, adding that it’s not unusual to deal with plagues of mice, but they’ve never seen it this bad. They say the numbers are “astronomical” and they need a solution fast! Poison is not the answer, drowning would have to be on a gargantuan scale to solve anything, so what’s left?
My answer is to gather all the feral cats in this country and ship them to the suffering farmers of Australia. Sure, it would be a huge undertaking, but you have a better idea?? What say you people in bloggerland? I told the editors of the magazine where the article came from: phys.org, that if I hear of a positive resolution, I would get back to them.
Right now they are using double-strength zinc phosphide, which is I assume, not harmful to other wildlife that feed on the mice. If they were to “napalm” the mice with a stronger poison, of course, people would eventually die as well down the food chain.
Twisted Trunk Travels 