MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

By Sarah Mennie – “WHEN farmer John Gregory entered his piggery he couldn’t believe what he saw – mice attacking his pigs.

Since he first saw them dining out on his prized stock in Wynarka, 130km east of Adelaide, the 50-year-old father of four has been at his wit’s end about how to get rid of them.

Now, as a desperate last resort, he’s resorted to covering his pigs in engine oil to protect them from the mice, which he says are turned off by the taste.

‘The mouse problem got really bad in April,’ Mr Gregory said.

‘We went away in the school holidays and when we came back we drove up the driveway and it looked like the ground was moving – there were hundreds of thousands of them.'” Read more.

‘Unprecedented’ mouse plague threatens crops – “A leading researcher in mouse control says the current plague could be four times worse than the farming industry has been preparing for. Linton Staples from the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre says the current plague is unprecedented, in that it is affecting four states at the same time. There is mounting frustration from farmers in the middle of sowing that crops could potentially be lost …” Read more.