Australia's government science agency is encouraging farmers and residents in rural towns to use an app it created several years ago to track mice sightings as authorities scramble to win the fight against the costly plague on the country's east coast.
An online platform called Mouse Alert displays hundreds of red circles indicating rodent infestations in a 1000km stretch across Queensland, NSW and Victoria.
The app was created by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in 2014, but authorities had no idea how much it would be needed seven years later as swarms of mice terrorise rural towns in central NSW.
Farmers are having their crops destroyed and homes invaded by waves of mice that have bred exponentially after a summer of heavy rain produced high crop yields and cooler weather – ripe conditions for the pests.
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The worst-hit areas have been the Northern Tablelands, Central West and New England regions of NSW, but there has been speculation the plague could reach even Sydney in coming months.
The ongoing rodent infestation across eastern Australia is on track to cause up to A$100 million (NZ$107.4m) worth of damage and has already worsened a mental health crisis in the regions.
Some farmers have lost as much as A$300,000 as mice chew through crops.
