International News: AFPBB News The Next Trial of Drought-Turning Farmers in Australia

[June 17th AFP] Farmers in eastern Australia have survived years of drought and are now forced to fight months of hordes of hard-harvested crops. There is.

Col Tink, 65, who runs a farm near Dubbo, uses a broom to drive hundreds of mice into a simple "mousetrap." Tinku's mousetrap is a basin filled with a large amount of water, and the mouse that falls inside drowns and dies.

However, with this modest resistance, the outbreak of mice that hit many farmers in eastern Australia, including Mr. Tinku, is almost unheard of.

Rats devour grains and hay and are always looking for something that is likely to be eaten. It has been reported that patients were bitten in hospitals, equipment was destroyed, and hordes of mice were running around the road.

Australia has been hit by drought for several years, with forest fires continuing for several months from the end of 2019. After that, the long-awaited rain occurred, and floods occurred in some areas. It was a non-bee rat that attacked the crying farmer even more.

Mouse outbreaks can continue throughout the winter in the Southern Hemisphere, and Tinku is also concerned about the next drought response that can happen at any time.

"I'm a little worried about what will happen in spring if it's not really cold and rainy winter this year," Tinku said.

Bill Bateman, an associate professor at Curtin University, said the outbreak of mice appears to occur once every 10 years, but climate change could make it even more frequent.

"If the cold winter is gone, it's like feeding mice all year round, which is a chronic phenomenon rather than a sudden one." (c) AFP / Andrew LEESON