Dozens of mice spill from farm machinery as Australian 'plague' continues

A plague of mice that has “overwhelmed” farmers in Australia for a number of months continues to wreak havoc, with the damage caused estimated to be moving toward a cost of £55m.

The issue has affected regions stretching over 1,000 kilometres along the eastern coast of the Australia.

In Gunnedah, in northeastern New South Wales, one farmer, Alex Laurie, filmed the moment dozens of mice emptied out of a piece of farming machinery after he’d turned it on.

Laurie told 9 News that the footage was filmed after he’d left his grain bin in one of the paddocks of his property for a few days.

He said the mice had been in the area for six months, but that it was “only in the last couple weeks they’ve got really thick like this.” He added, “I don’t have a lot of experience with mice, I don’t think anybody our age does. This is the first mice plague we’ve had.”

Laurie told Storyful that the footage was captured on May 24. Elsewhere in Gunnedah, on May 19, another farmer, Xavier Martin, told News.com.au that “the numbers of mice in his fields had gotten so extreme some of the mice had resorted to eating each other