Driving along roads ravaged by a devastating mouse plague north-east of Perth is like “popping bubble wrap”, residents say, with the rodents affecting every aspect of their daily lives.
Fighting the plague has become an uphill battle in the farming town of Morawa, and there are fears the hordes of mice could spread further toward Perth if not controlled.
Dead mice are seen in a swimming pool in Morawa, 370 kilometres north east of Perth. (Supplied: Karen Chappel)
“We’re talking thousands,” Morawa shire president Karen Chappel told 102.5 ABC Perth.
“You know when you get that bubble wrap and you pop it? When you’re driving at night-time, that’s what it feels like.
“You’re driving over mice that are popping.
“All the snakes that you come across, they’re dugites but they’re like carpet pythons because they’re so full of mice.
“It’s just horrid, infiltrating people’s homes and businesses.”
Mice in beds
Ms Chappel said the plague was impacting several local government areas, including Northampton, Mullewa, Chapman Valley, Mingenew and Perenjori.
“I feel for our farmers … I feel in our community, in our town site, people are living with mice,” she said.
Morawa Shire President Karen Chappel says the mice have infiltrated residents’ homes and businesses. (ABC Midwest and Wheatbelt: Chris Lewis)
“People are talking about having mice in their beds, there’s mice in your cupboards … I opened my recipe drawer the other day to get the recipes out and the mice have eaten many of my recipes.”
She wants the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority [APVMA] to allow the use of stronger rodent baits.
Farmer Robert Mitchell scoops up dead mice from his shed. (ABC Midwest and Wheatbelt: Chris Lewis)
“We’re catching, we’re trapping, but we just can’t win the fight, and it starts with the fact we’ve got to get the APVMA to give the farmers permission to use stronger baits,” she said.
“You can’t trap thousands of mice.”
Minister disappointed
WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis said she was disappointed in the time it had taken the APVMA to respond to an emergency application for farmers to use stronger baits.
Jackie Jarvis expresses her disappointment in how long it takes the APVMA to respond to an emergency application. (ABC News: Courtney Withers)
“I’ve been trying to get action for weeks,” she told ABC Radio Perth.
“I’m incredibly disappointed that we’re more than two weeks on and we don’t have an answer.”
Farmers want to be able to use stronger baits to eradicate the mice, but permission to do so has been slow to arrive. (ABC Midwest and Wheatbelt: Chris Lewis)
Farmers are seeking permits to use 50-gram zinc phosphide baits, rather than the current 25-gram baits.
Ms Jarvis said the lower-grade baits were not effective.
A CSIRO report from March 2026 detailing house mouse abundance across grain-growing regions. (Supplied: CSIRO)
She said the permit farmers were applying for was short-term and would last for a few months, but in the weeks since they applied in late April, some growers had undergone seeding with the weaker 25-gram baits.
Dead mice floating in a bucket of water. (Supplied: Karen Chappel)
“They’ll have to spend tens of thousands of dollars reseeding and putting out the stronger baits and you know obviously this is on top of a fuel crisis,” Ms Jarvis said.
People leaving town, says local MP
The APVMA said it was working towards approving the use of the stronger bait.
“Before a permit can be issued, the APVMA must be satisfied that the proposed use is safe for people, the environment, and trade. These assessments are currently underway,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
“We anticipate a decision in the near term.”
Grain growers in parts of Western Australia are overrun by mice.
Nationals MP Shane Love, who is the local member, said it was a mouse plague of proportions not seen for many years in WA.
“The community is at its wits end,” he said.
“The inundation is leading people to actually leaving town because they’re so frustrated and finding it unpleasant to be there.”
Shane Love spoke about the plague outside Parliament House in Perth. (ABC News: Courtney Withers)
The WA outbreak comes after several major mouse plagues across Australia.
In 1993, Australia’s worst-ever mouse plague caused an estimated $96 million worth of damage, particularly in New South Wales and parts of South Australia and Victoria.
Another well-publicised plague invaded homes, towns and farms in NSW and Queensland in 2021.