Australia: Mouse Plague Forces Prison Evacuation
A mouse plague ravaging Australia's farmlands forced the evacuation of hundreds of inmates from a rural jail on Tuesday, as the rodents broke in and chewed through essential infrastructure.
Scores of mice have gnawed through
ceiling panels and wiring at a New South Wales prison, prompting authorities to
scale back operations for repairs.
"The health, safety and wellbeing of staff and
inmates is our number one priority, so it's important for us to act now to
carry out the vital remediation work," said Peter Severin of Corrective
Services NSW.
Up to 420 inmates and 200 staff
from the Wellington Correctional Center will be moved to other facilities by
the end of the month.
"We want to do this overhaul once, and we want
it done properly, which means we'll be looking at ways to mitigate the effects
of similar plagues in the future," Custodial Corrections Assistant
Commissioner Kevin Corcoran said.
Mice have been destroying farmers'
produce and tormenting locals in eastern Australia for months after the feral
pest boomed on the back of a bumper crop.
The plague is the latest in a
string of disasters to strike farmers.
A years-long drought was followed
by months of devastating bushfires in late 2019 to early 2020 before welcome
rains brought damaging floods in several regions.
