AUSTRALIA's premier grain growing areas
have been invaded by an army of mice.
According to Ken McElligot, lands minister of the grain-rich Queensland state,
400,000 tons of the cereal would be
devoured by the marauding rats if
immediate action is not taken to tackle
them. This is nearly half the state's
expected winter crop, due to be harvested in December this year. "Many
grain growers are reporting mouse populations moving across their land in
waves, " reports McElligot.
The desperate Queensland authorities are now planning to bomb the
rodents with strychnine. They are
launching a massive aerial baiting programme which will use this fast-acting
drug that fells a mouse in 8 seconds.
But before that the state cabinet will
have to issue a formal approval to lift a
currently existing ban on strychnine.
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