{"id":7441,"date":"2026-05-08T09:29:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T09:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/7441\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T09:29:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T09:29:23","slug":"worst-ever-mouse-plague-in-morawa-wa-leaves-streets-covered-in-mice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/7441\/","title":{"rendered":"Worst-ever mouse plague in Morawa, WA, leaves streets covered in mice"},"content":{"rendered":"

A shire president in regional WA is calling for urgent intervention to deal with area’s worst mouse plague in history.<\/p>\n

At Morawa, 370 kilometres north of Perth, the main street is littered with dead and dying mice.<\/p>\n

Houses and businesses smell of a mix of decaying and nesting mice, mixed with air freshener and scented candles.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Dead mice can be found all throughout the town of Morawa. (ABC Midwest and Wheatbelt: Chris Lewis)<\/p>\n

Locals have endured months of an endless tide of mice flowing into town, a situation president Karen Chappel described as “gravely concerning”.<\/p>\n

“We have mice in our homes, we have mice in our cars; they’re in our sheds, they’re in our paddocks, they’re at the school, they’re everywhere,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I believe there will be viruses that will be spread through the hundreds of rotting mice carcasses that are around the place.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Farmers are disposing of thousands of dead mice every day. (ABC Midwest and Wheatbelt: Chris Lewis)<\/p>\n

Mrs Chappel said residents were practising good hygiene and were doing their best to remove mice through baiting and trapping and cleaning up carcasses, but it was proving impossible.<\/p>\n

“People have had mice bite their toes, people have come home from holiday and there are mice nesting in their beds,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"School,<\/p>\n

Karen Chappel says schools in Morawa are infested with mice.\u00a0 (ABC Midwest and Wheatbelt: Chris Lewis)<\/p>\n

Schools and hospital hit<\/p>\n

Mrs Chappel said mice were everywhere at the schools.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got kiddies out there playing in this filth.”<\/p>\n

She said she reported the plague to several government ministers and to the chief health officer.<\/p>\n

“I think in the past week [government are] realising that this is really happening, and I’m not just whingeing, this is real.”<\/p>\n

\"Mice<\/p>\n

Mice are moving from grain farms surrounding Morawa into the town. (ABC Mid West and Wheatbelt: Chris Lewis)<\/p>\n

Locals told the ABC that mice had infested schools and the health service in town.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a statement, the state government said: “The Department of Education is providing support to Morawa District High School and Morawa Agricultural College to ensure staff and students’ health and safety is prioritised while the schools continue to operate.<\/p>\n

“Schools have increased the frequency of industrial-standard cleaning, and are encouraged to remove waste, and keep gardens tidy.<\/p>\n

“Morawa Health Service remains operational and has also implemented mitigation measures, including safe baiting and enhanced cleaning.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nesting in toilet paper, eating cat food<\/p>\n

The two shops in the town that sell groceries have been badly hit.<\/p>\n

Local IGA manager Aaron Chadwick said so far he had thrown out $20,000 of groceries that mice had chewed or nested in.<\/p>\n

\"Aaron<\/p>\n

Aaron Chadwick looks down at a day’s worth of damaged stock he will throw out. (ABC Midwest and Wheatbelt: Chris Lewis)<\/p>\n

“People make comments about the [shop’s] smell and we do our best to cover it up, we spray some air freshener and it lasts for maybe 10 minutes then it starts smelling again,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Chadwick said he had hired extra staff to check products for mice and clean up dead rodents.<\/p>\n

Up the road, Peter Thornton owns Morawa Traders.<\/p>\n

He comes to work early to check the shop for dead mice and to empty traps and then spends his spare time during the day removing mice.<\/p>\n

\"Peter<\/p>\n

Peter Thornton is tired and fed up with the mouse problem plaguing his store in Morawa. (ABC Midwest and Wheatbelt: Chris Lewis)<\/p>\n

It is taking its toll. After months of battling mice at his home and his shop, Mr Thornton is exhausted.<\/p>\n

“Sometimes I’m serving a customer and you’ll see them [the mice] crawling up the shelves behind them,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Everyone is effected, it’s not just in the shops. Some of the stories I’ve heard are just horrendous.<\/p>\n

“We clean every day; we try to keep everything clean.”<\/p>\n

Planted crops eaten before they can grow\u00a0<\/p>\n

Robert Mitchell grows grain outside the Morawa townsite.<\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/p>\n

Robert Mitchell is worried about his new crops being eaten by mice. (ABC Midwest and Wheatbelt: Chris Lewis)<\/p>\n

For the first time his family baited its entire property for mice and some paddocks will need more than one bait application.<\/p>\n

“We’ve seeded paddocks and come back 10 days later and they’ve literally dug the seed out of the ground,” Mr Mitchell said.<\/p>\n

Crops that have germinated are being chewed off, meaning some areas within paddocks will need to be re-seeded.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Farmers are using baits to help cull the mouse plague. (ABC Midwest and Wheatbelt: Chris Lewis)<\/p>\n

It is a significant additional expense for farmers during a period of record fuel and fertiliser prices.<\/p>\n

“It’s going to cost a lot, we are working on $9 to $10 a hectare for the bait, and then whatever the application cost is,” Mr Mitchell said.<\/p>\n

Damian Ryan is retired but still lives on his farm.<\/p>\n

\"Damien<\/p>\n

Damian Ryan says he has never seen the mice so bad in all his life. (ABC Midwest and Wheatbelt: Chris Lewis)<\/p>\n

His sheds are crawling with mice. He empties hundreds from his bucket traps every day.<\/p>\n

“I’ve never seen mice like this before in my life; they’re everywhere,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Damian Ryan holds a handful of mice caught in his traps. (ABC Midwest and Wheatbelt: Chris Lewis)<\/p>\n

“As the food source gets less, we’re getting more and more coming in to find feed.<\/p>\n

“I think a lot of it could be with no more sheep anymore eating spilt grain from harvest, the food source is there and they’ve just built up.”<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Damien Ryan empties his mouse traps daily and disposes of the carcasses by burning them. (ABC Midwest and Wheatbelt: Chris Lewis)<\/p>\n

Help is needed\u00a0<\/p>\n

The grains industry through Grain Producers Australia (GPA) is lobbying the national chemical regulator, the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA), to approve an emergency permit application<\/a> to give farmers access to double-strength zinc phosphide mouse bait.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Farmers fear new shoots will be eaten away by the mouse plague. (ABC Midwest and Wheatbelt: Chris Lewis)<\/p>\n

In a combined statement, the APVMA confirmed it was assessing a bait permit application from GPA.<\/p>\n

“Since then, we have been working closely with GPA, GRDC and CSIRO to fast-track consideration of a permit for a 50 \/kg ZnP mouse bait to support the management of these plague conditions,” the statement said.<\/p>\n

“Before a permit can be issued, APVMA must be satisfied that the proposed use is safe for people, the environment, and trade. These assessments are currently underway.”<\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/p>\n

Robert Mitchell looks down at a shovel load of dead mice from his shed. (ABC Midwest and Wheatbelt: Chris Lewis)<\/p>\n

Mrs Chappel, who also has a family farm near Morawa, said access to stronger baits was essential.<\/p>\n

“I’d like [the APVMA] to come and see what we are living with, and what our farmers are going through,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We don’t want our farmers to not have a good crop \u2026 if we can get the mice to die in our paddocks, we’ll have less mice in our town site.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Robert Mitchell scoops up dead mice from his shed. (ABC Midwest and Wheatbelt: Chris Lewis)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A shire president in regional WA is calling for urgent intervention to deal with area’s worst mouse plague…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7442,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,3957,8736,8735,8738,8737,3425,7143,1637,8734,8739,464],"class_list":{"0":"post-7441","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-austrlia","10":"tag-disease","11":"tag-medical-centre","12":"tag-mice","13":"tag-mouse-bait","14":"tag-mouse-infestation","15":"tag-mouse-plague","16":"tag-pest-control","17":"tag-public-health","18":"tag-rodenticide","19":"tag-rodents","20":"tag-wa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}