Politics
Australia mouse plague – Family left homeless after rodents ‘burn house to the ground’ in doomsday infestation
A FAMILY’S home burnt to the ground after rampaging rodents chomped through wiring in Australia’s doomsday-like mouse plague.
Rebekah Ward, a mum-of-three, said the stomach-churning infestation resulted in “mice jumping from the roof” to flee the flames.
People tried to battle the flames after mice ate the home’s wiring in NSW[/caption]
The rodent plague is out-of-control in Australia, where it’s destroying property and livelihoods[/caption]
Rebekah Ward was lucky that her kids were safe, but they are now all homeless[/caption]
The nightmare was sparked on Friday, when Ward received a call to tell her the living room was on fire at her home near Narrabri, New South Wales.
But, by the time she rushed home, it was completely ablaze, she told Channel Nine’s Today show.
Ward said that “half the town” had tried to extinguish the flames, but the mice had eaten so many wires that it couldn’t be saved.
She said: “I had the local police officer, [and] a few of the locals say, that mice were just jumping from the roof.
“Around the house and into the neighbour’s, there’s dead, burnt mice.
“I’m not sure how many mice were coming out, but yeah, apparently there was a fair few.”
Ward also recalled how her family had been repeatedly attacked by the hungry – and growing population – of mice, which was impossible to eradicate.
The home was razed to the ground near Narrabri, taking the kids’ toys[/caption]
Sightings of the massive mouse army have doubled since March 2020[/caption]
Just a few of dead mice in a grain shed[/caption]
She said it was a “nightmare” as the furry rodents “crawl over the kids at night.
“They are in our shoes, they are on our benches, they are everywhere.
“They eat the food. We’ve had to put the food into a toolbox.
“They come through the lounge. They will bite you on the back. They are a nightmare.”
A GoFundMe fundraiser has been organised to re-home the devastated family.
It says: “Yesterday I received the saddest phone call.
“My best friend Rebekah was in tears and [said] ‘My house is burning down to the ground’.
“Rebekah was driving back home from work – she’s a nurse in an aged care facility an hours drive from her house – when she called me.
“Luckily her three most prized possessions – her three boys – were on the way to footy training with their Dad – James, Bec’s husband.
“So they were all safe. Thankfully! They have lost absolutely everything. Their whole world.
“The boys’ toys, books, the whole families clothes, personal items, linen, toiletries, photos, non replaceable heirlooms, furniture, memories and the list goes on and on.
“The main thing – the five of them are alive and still here, but literally only have the clothes they have on their back left!”
It has already raised nearly $14,000 towards its $50,000 (£27,000) goal.
There are millions of the rodents terrifying Australians in their own homes[/caption]
Ward said she was trying hard to cope while homeless.
She added: “Give me next week and I will probably break.
“Hopefully we can get into a house and get the kids back to somewhat normality.
“I don’t know how they’re even coping because they have lost everything.
“Something needs to be done [about the rodent plague].”
Australia’s massive – and disgusting – rodent army is now marching on Sydney amid shocking reports of people being bitten in their beds.
They come through the lounge. They will bite you on the back. They are a nightmare.
Rebekah Ward, nurse
Tens of millions of rampaging mice have sparked horrific infestations stretching 1,000km from Brisbane down to Melbourne.
They have caused untold damage to the country’s eastern coast, decimating crops and chomping their way through food storage units.
The mice have also invaded homes, schools and hospitals as they thrive after heavy rain and hot and dry spells led to a bumper harvest.
“People are putting the legs of their beds in buckets or pots of water.
“But the mice are still climbing curtains, jumping onto their beds and biting them,” Xavier Martin, a grain farmer from New South Wales, told The Telegraph.
A government-funded MouseAlert website shows sightings have doubled since March – with a surge in cases in and around Sydney.
One video previously published by the Sun Online showed mice pouring out of a silo as workers tried to clean it out.
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The Centre for Invasive Species Solutions said: “Grain growing areas suffer damage to crops and to stored grain; rural businesses suffer damage from mice chewing stock and electrical wires.”
Xavier Martin slammed the £27m government assistance package as too little to conquer the booming population.
“The state government’s assistance package is impractical, dysfunctional and weeks away, which is not helping farmers who need support right now to drive mouse numbers down and break this horrible unrelenting cycle,” he said.
