Fiona Adams, an Australian farmer, holds a rat that was killed by her dog. Photo: Sydney Morning Herald. As cats give up chasing mice and dogs risk death from ingesting rat bait, farmers across Australia have no choice but to improvise to deal with the raging rat disaster. For Eris Fleming, an artist and rancher on her family farm near Bakers Swamp in New South Wales, Australia, the creative approach was to create mini water traps – 15 – everywhere around my house. Mr. Fleming, 78, has seen the current large population of rats once before, in 1984. Although he initially tried placing rat baits like his neighbors, his German Shepherd “started eating the bait faster than the mice.” His dog started bleeding and needed urgent and expensive care to stay alive at the local veterinary clinic. “Vets are going to make a lot of money in this short time,” he said. Rats that have eaten bait will eventually decompose on the ceiling, in the walls and under the floorboards. “The stench is unbelievable,” he said. And so, buckets of water, narrow curtain rods coated with PVC and a layer of canola oil, and some peanut butter decoys, all designed to trap and kill rodents relentlessly. . Just like that, every morning, Mr. Fleming started by collecting dead mice, at least 300 a day. They will then be buried away from the house. It took him three hours a day to clear the bucket of dead rats, dig, bury the rats and reset the trap. However, he also saves time from having to clean every surface, such as clearing rat droppings off the table, and getting rodents out of bed or even out of the refrigerator. Several of Fleming’s neighbors followed his method, and they all reported massive exterminations of rats. Fleming currently counts only a handful of dead rats each morning, but the significant and welcome drop is probably more related to the fact that the rat population is turning to forage elsewhere, such as near Sydney than. Other techniques used by people in his county include a woman mixing powder with plaster to trick rats, although that still risks the rat decomposing in hard-to-reach nooks and crannies. Elsewhere, many people prefer to use traps made of expandable latex rings – like those used to castrate pets. Rats were killed by traps made of expandable rubber latex rings. Photo: Sydney Morning Herald. Improvisation will probably still be required as the supply of rat bait and rat traps continues to be strained. Rat-killer retailer Bunnings says demand started picking up in December and accelerated even further after April. “We have seen an increase in customer demand for rat control products across New South Wales,” said Belinda Rakers, Bunnings product manager. “Due to high demand, supplies are currently at a low level. However, we are continuing to work closely with our suppliers to get more stock in stores as soon as possible,” she said. In Neurea, near Wellington, Fiona Adams is using rat bait to at least keep the rats under control, but they still rummage through her barn at night. Her dog killed one even as she was talking to guests from the Herald visiting the farm on May 20. “I certainly don’t like them, but unfortunately, you have to get used to them,” she said. “They have cute little faces, but they are stinky little animals. Driving along the road at night, they are like toy cars.” Although the cold weather has begun to slow their growth, that hasn’t stopped them from eating all of the lupine beans Fiona planted on May 19, leaving only empty husks. For Fiona as well as Fleming, the scale of the epidemic was hard to imagine for many in Sydney and elsewhere. Rats can breed after just six weeks and then lay multiple litters within three weeks, triggering a population explosion. Farmers in the area who sold their livestock turned to hay production to take advantage of the bountiful rains, but only saw entire haystacks eaten by rats within a few months. After all, it will be up to science rather than temporary or other methods to control such a massive rat population explosion. “The only way you can prevent this is by doing research,” Mr. Fleming mused.

For months, rats have ravaged fields and damaged homes in eastern Australia, from the Victorian border in the south to Queensland in the north, causing millions of dollars in damage to crops and machinery. A pair of mice can give birth to 500 more pups per season, the females give birth to a new litter every three weeks, and they constantly need more food. Rat “nightmare” for farmers in New South Wales, Australia. Photo: Pelgar International. The New South Wales government is considering a more drastic solution. On May 20, officials announced they had acquired 5,000 liters of one of the world’s most powerful rat poisons to treat rats. However, some residents fear the use of poisons could damage food crops and kill local wildlife. End of drought, Australia meets rats again “We’ve had long, bad years of drought, and then 2020 is going to be beautiful. But there’s always something great happening, and this year it’s a rat pandemic,” said farmer Michael Payten of the small town of Canowindra, west of Sydney, sigh. The rainfall in 2020 is roughly equal to the total rainfall two years earlier, making the soil fertile and yielding a bountiful harvest, but also creating ideal conditions for the rats. “Trying to count the number of rats that are harming Eastern Australia is like counting the stars in the sky,” said CSIRO researcher Steve Henry, considered by the New South Wales government to be Australia’s best expert on the disease. in mice, said. Rat extermination expert Sue Hodge clears dead rats from traps in her client’s home every day in the New South Wales town of Canowindra. Photo: CNN. According to Sue Hodge, a rat extermination expert in Canowindra, when winter approaches, rats even take refuge in people’s homes. Ms. Hodge spends her days dealing with dead rats trapped in a client’s home. She removed rat droppings from the kitchen, the children’s room and even their beds. In her home, Mrs. Hodge used steel wool to prevent rats from crawling in from every nook and cranny. She sets a mousetrap every night. According to the New South Wales Agricultural industry group, the loss of cereal groups such as wheat, barley and rapeseed, as well as forage, is having a major impact on the finances of farm businesses. The survey found that a third of businesses had an estimated loss of $50,000-150,000 ($38,000-116,000). The group warned that the total damage could reach hundreds of millions of dollars if urgent action is not taken. Government measures – immediate but too dangerous The New South Wales government is resorting to “heavy weapons” to end the rat disaster, after weeks of consultations with Mr Henry, CSIRO and farmers. Last week, New South Wales agriculture chief Adam Marshall unveiled “a scary set of tools for rat control”, including free rat poison for farmers. This week, thousands of liters of bromadiolone – a “second generation anticoagulant” has been introduced to effectively kill rats. However, Charles Sturt University ecologist Dr Maggie Watson says the toxin is “too dangerous” to use in the environment, as it can leach into the soil and bioaccumulate in insects. then join the food chain. She said native birds in Australia are all at risk of death after eating a poisoned mouse, and it takes up to 15-20 years for them to come back to life. NSW farmer Michael Payten calls his tractor shed a “rat hotel”. Photo: CNN. Proponents of the administration argue that bromadiolone is highly toxic and will likely kill some native predators, but there aren’t enough hawks and owls for the rat population to drop naturally. While the rat population is unusually high, farmers warn that they are running out of time to harvest the winter crop.

Australia has been repeatedly damaged by rats in recent years. Photo: Guardian. Australia’s National Science Service and the Department of Animal Health have agreed to issue an emergency license to the country’s pesticide agency to produce double doses of rat poison in an upcoming series of products. The dose and percentage of the drug in the wheat fields remained the same, but the amount of zinc phosphide (Zn3P2) in each dose was doubled. Zinc phosphide is an inorganic chemical compound, consisting mainly of two elements, zinc (Zn) and phosphorus (P). This compound exists mainly as a gray solid, with some commercial samples being dark or even black. It is mainly used as a rat poison. In addition, there are applications in the production of semiconductors. Zinc phosphide is very toxic. In many labels, the substance is marked “Highly Hazardous,” meaning that in amounts between 1 and 50 mg can be lethal. For many years, zinc phosphide has been widely used, but strictly controlled. However, for farmers in the eastern and southern states of Australia, the current dose of zinc phosphide is not enough to prevent rat infestations. Researcher Steve Henry of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) said that rats have a mechanism to quickly develop an aversion to lures, if the dose of zinc phosphorus in the drug is increased. “We call it the curry effect. If you go out, eat some food, and feel nauseous when you get home, you won’t go back to that restaurant,” he explains. This basis helps CSIRO boldly increase the dose of toxicity, although it increases the risk of death in humans, if accidentally exposed to the decoy. The high-dose drug will be on the market soon, and it will cost farmers about $1 more per kilogram. In eastern Australia, including parts of New South Wales and southern Queensland, where rats ravage crops and cause significant damage to hay and grain stocks, companies and farmers have been allowed to experiment. new drugs. Before that was agreed, scientists had hoped that heavy rain and colder temperatures would reduce the harmful effects of rats. However, that didn’t happen. In most of the affected towns, the rats, which can breed from 6 weeks old and give birth every 21 days, continue to destroy crops and even attack livestock. The New South Wales Farmers’ Association, said conventional rat poison products were in short supply, and prices skyrocketed. They needed a new direction, effective and immediate. The organization has partnered with the National Women’s Union, calling for a financial aid package for the rat epidemic. This group proposes, each farm is provided with $ 25,000 for the cost of rat poison. A survey of 1,100 farmers across New South Wales found that 94 per cent of their farms had been attacked by rats. On average per capita, each individual spent up to 150,000 USD on rat poison. A third of those surveyed revealed that the loss of grain and fodder stockpiles ranged from $50,000 to $150,000. 5& this number claims, they have lost more than 250,000 USD. Some farmers had to abandon the entire spring-summer crop. About 40% of farmers planted less seeds this past winter. More than 80% of respondents reported damage to machinery and infrastructure. And only a third suffered less than $150,000 in damage. Lisa Minogue, a farmer in the Barmedman area, said she washed her clothes 38 times in just three days. “The smell of rats is horrible. It’s impossible to know exactly how many are in the house,” she said. Rats have even attacked rural hospitals, biting patients. Many local health authorities have reported an increase in rat-related diseases. In New South Wales, about a third of farmers surveyed admitted their health was directly affected by the outbreak and 85% had trouble sleeping. Australian Women’s Union president, Danica Leys, said: “Everyone has been affected, from farms, to hotels in the area, to retail food businesses, to bakeries, supermarkets, malls, etc. child care centers and nursing homes. These financial and health ramifications all followed an unprecedented drought that triggered catastrophic wildfires. It’s time for the state government to act.” The Premier of New South Wales, Gladys Berejiklian, acknowledges the problems posed by the nasty rodents.” On 2GB radio, she said: “Depends on living, but the problem seems to be getting worse. more, due to the shortened reproductive time of mice. They are now too crowded, to the point of being difficult to control. The authorities are doing everything they can to avoid a natural disaster.” New South Wales Deputy Premier and National Leader, John Barilaro, said the state government and the Australian Government were speeding up lobbying to change the codes of conduct. “We need to support farmers so that they have enough bait to kill rats in the near future,” he told the National Assembly. New South Wales Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall left open the possibility of controlling diseases that can be spread by rat populations. Among them, the most dangerous and scary is the plague. “There is currently no clear suggestion to solve. Maybe, the government has to use strong measures, including ways that are considered illegal. All to help farmers fight the disease,” he said. emphasize. In the immediate future, Australian farmers still use traditional methods such as setting traps or using drones to drop bait with rat poison from above. However, the problem has only just begun, considering the rapid reproduction rate of mice. A pair of mice can give birth to new cubs after 20 days, giving birth to more than 500 young in a season. Adult female mice can lay litters 3 weeks apart.

People then talked about strategizing against rats, setting extremely sophisticated traps, or fortifying houses against small but annoying enemies. Six months have passed, the number of rats has once again increased sharply, despite thousands of tons of rat poison used, not to mention a terrible flood that swept across the east coast of the country. Rats are no longer an enemy to be eradicated, they seem to have become annoying black fluffy clouds that move everywhere where people have to learn to live together, according to the report. Guardian . Nightmare The nightmare that Australia is experiencing is known as the “rat epidemic”, caused by huge populations of house mice. The house mouse was brought to Australia by Europeans in 1788. Since then, rat epidemics have occurred several times in Australia when conditions are favorable, with increasing frequency. This year, the situation became so serious that the New South Wales state government had to announce an emergency relief package of 50 million USD for people to fight the rat epidemic, including money for rat poison research, drug support. mouse and rat traps up to $1,000 per small business and $500 per household. Dead rat in a farmer’s warehouse in Walgett. Photo: Guardian. But for many people, the support is nothing compared to the damage the rats cause. “We were away for four weeks and had relatives check the house every day. There was a period of about four days when no one came to look, and in those four days, they were all over the house,” said Louise McCabe, resident in the town of Tallimba, said. When relatives were asked to open the door by McCabe, thousands of rats were inside. “They chewed up the new carpet, they ate the wooden floor. The oven they broke. They ate the insulation inside the dishwasher,” McCabe said. McCabe later discovered rats nesting inside pillows on lounge chairs, crawling into kitchen cabinets, destroying electrical circuits. Damages totaled up to $30,000. The climax was when the woman put the clothes soaked in rat urine into the washing machine. When she returned, she discovered a dead rat had swollen inside the glass. Meanwhile, a farmer named Ben Storer living in Walgett, said that 800 hectares of his sorghum has been destroyed by the herd, causing damage up to 200,000 USD. Rats attack every part of Storer’s farm, from the grain barn and the mill to the swimming pool’s filter pipe. At the height of the rat epidemic, thousands of dead rats were found every time Mr. Storer used a grinder to grind the grain he harvested. Baiting is the only measure that can be deployed on a large scale to control rat populations. As a result, in the worst-affected towns, the smell of urine and dead rats was overwhelming. Local residents described the smell of rotting rats as “unbearable”. “With poison, we can kill 100,000 rats a night. But the next morning, another 200,000 will come back,” Mr. Storer said. “No one understands the rat epidemic until they’ve experienced it. No one understands the extreme stench, vandalized furniture. Rats eat all the insulation in the air conditioning system, eat the wires on the roof, corrode parts of the circuit board,” said John Southon, principal of Trundle Central High School. Winter hope While local residents seem to have given up on the fight against rats, New South Wales authorities have stepped in. Experts say they have successfully developed a rat poison that can turn the tide of the current war. A new rat poison using a super toxic chemical called bromadiolone is being approved for emergency use by the New South Wales government. However, scientists warn the drug can be dangerous for native animals that eat the dead rat. Steven Henery, broaching expert with the Australian Agency for Science and Industrial Research, said the coming winter would be an opportunity for humans to put an end to the current rat epidemic. “My hope is that winter will slow down the birth rate of mice, and that only a very small number of mice will survive,” said Henery. One of the real concerns, Mr. Henery warned, is that the rat population has a high winter survival rate, and if the weather conditions are favorable the following spring, they will start to thrive again. Farmers burn fields after harvesting to destroy the rat’s food source. Photo: Guardian. “In August, farmers need to go out to their fields, look for signs of infestation. If they find any, then they will have to kill them before the breeding season. property arrives,” Mr. Henry said. Any human rat eradication strategy will only be able to reduce the rat population to a certain extent. Experts say that to be able to overcome the rat epidemic, humans will have to wait for the help of natural phenomena that are really terrible for mice. “The very large number of individuals interacting with each other increases the risk of disease transmission. When this phenomenon occurs at the same time they run out of food, they will fall ill and start eating each other, eating the animals. young. That’s when their whole growth system collapses,” said Mr. Henery. But until that day comes, people will have to keep setting traps, laying baits, and praying the weather will turn bitter cold. “I can only pray for freezing cold. That’s all I can do right now,” McCabe said.

Hamster is a “favorite” dish of many people, especially people in the West. In pubs, mice are processed into dishes such as grilled, fried, fried in leaves, … with prices from 80,000 to 120,000 VND / plate. Fried rats in a pub in Can Tho. (Photo: Tien Phong) Currently, many localities in the Mekong Delta are harvesting the Winter-Spring crop, causing the price of ham here to decrease compared to before the Lunar New Year. However, according to Tien Phong Newspaper, the price of hamster in the Mekong Delta is still high, equivalent to or higher than pork. Currently, type 1 hamster (6-7 animals / kg) has a price of 80,000 VND / kg, a hamster of type 2 is lower with 70,000 VND / kg, and the smallest type is 60,000 VND / kg. This price has decreased by about 20,000 VND compared to the time before Tet. At that time, the supply of mice was scarce, sometimes the price increased to 120,000 VND / kg. Vegetables fall back to Hanoi, 200 thousand / kg are still ‘sold out’ Vegetables in the forest or flowers in the forest are not too new to the people of the capital. However, this specialty forest vegetable is still very attractive every season, despite its extremely expensive price, which can be said to be the most expensive of all forest vegetables. Currently, the price of wild vegetables in Hanoi is up to 180,000 VND / kg, while the flower and vegetable price is 200,000 VND / kg, which is more expensive than American beef bacon. Compared to the price of industrial chicken, the price of this vegetable is 10 times more expensive. Compared to last year, this year vegetables are about 30,000-40,000 VND / kg more expensive. Lilies in the season, growers collect hundreds of millions Lilies are also known as lilies or lilies. This flower is known as “Queen of April” and every season, the trumpet shines on Hanoi’s street. Everyone takes advantage of buying packages like the plug. The trumpet is dubbed “the Queen of April” In the flower capital of Tay Tuu (Hanoi), farmers are rushing to harvest lilies. Every day, a household cuts thousands of flowers. Flowers can be cut wherever they are sold. Some households earn hundreds of million dong thanks to lilies. Compared with the price of flowers at the beginning of the season of 300,000-350,000 VND / 100 flowers, the price of lilies has decreased, in some places it is only 150,000-170,000 VND / 100 cluster flowers. White pear flowers damp, small traders pity to throw away Family & Social News newspaper, more than 1 month ago, hundreds of small businesses from Cao Bang, Lang Son frantically brought thousands of white pear flower branches (pears and tigers) to the capital for sale. However, this year, due to the epidemic effect of Covid-19, the number of flowers sold has decreased significantly compared to every year. Although the small traders have reduced the price of floor theater for each white pear branch, customers do not care. Therefore, a large amount of white pear flowers are damp, the small trader has to pityly throw it away with sugar. According to many small traders, the white pear flower brought from the northern mountainous provinces to the capital has not been so humid this year. The fact that the pear blossoms are damp has caused many small businesses to lose hundreds of millions of dong. Super giant plums imported from Australia cause fever Dinosaur plums imported from Australia (also known as dinosaur plums) are now being bought by many hunters. Compared with plums, this plum has 2-3 times the size and weight, every 6-7 fruits will reach 1 kg. When the fruit is ripe, it will give a beautiful red color, thick, hard flesh, sweet taste. Super giant plum (Photo: Dan Tri) Australian plum is currently priced from 180,000-220,000 VND / kg. Last year, at the end of the season, 1 kg of Australian plums cost 300,000 VND. The world’s most delicious rice ST25 is rampant counterfeiting As noted by Reporter Tien Phong, the rice market in Hanoi currently has dozens of types of ST25 rice offered by traders for prices from 28,000-40,000 VND / kg. Although the same brand ST 25, but all kinds of different models and packages. In addition to rice agents, social networks also appeared full of shops, shops, individuals who actively promote and sell “genuine” ST25 rice. After being named the world’s best rice, the ST25 rice was impersonated, counterfeiting rampant in the domestic market. According to Mr. Ho Quang Cua, the father of the ST25 rice brand, there are dozens of fake rice on the market, imitation of his brand. Hot season cooling products have strong discounts Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper reported that electronics centers in Ho Chi Minh City are implementing discount programs, giving gifts … to attract consumers to buy hot season cooling products. In which, air conditioner is the most preferential item with a discount from a few hundred to several million dong. Air-conditioner products attract customers (Photo: Lao Dong) In addition, electric fans, air-conditioning fans, and steam fans are also discounted by many electronics supermarkets up to 51% to stimulate demand. With the same season, the price is low, the pineapple is priced Recorded by PV Doanh and Tiep Thi in the largest growing place in Hanoi (Hiep Thuan commune, Phuc Tho district), this year, the season is good, but the revenue is not high. The price for ripening is reduced compared to every year, the wholesale price ranges from 7,000 to 28,000 VND / kg. Meanwhile, despite being heavily affected by the Covid-19 epidemic, the export via quota to the Chinese market is in trouble, but this year, farmers in Lao Cai have a good harvest but do not worry about devaluation. According to Dan Tri Newspaper, the commercial pineapple market of Lao Cai province is being consumed strongly with prices from 5,500-6,000 VND / kg. At this price, pineapple growers will have a relatively high profit compared to previous years. Durian off season, Tra Vinh dried coconut high price News / TTXVN newspaper said that in Tien Giang, durian is in reverse with the consumption price standing at a very high level, about 90,000 VND / kg. According to the agricultural sector of Tien Giang province, with an average yield of 20 tons / ha, each hectare of durian produces up to 1.8 billion VND production value. After subtracting production costs, farmers profit not less than 1 billion. Durian has high prices (Photo: News / TTXVN) Also in Tra Vinh, the price of desiccated coconuts for more than a week has risen “fever” from VND 75,000 / dozen being collected by agents at the garden for VND 85,000 / dozen. The price of desiccated coconuts increases, but the supply in the province is still insufficient. Besides, from the beginning of March until now, due to the harsh hot weather, the demand for fresh coconut has increased, pushing up the price of fresh coconut to 120,000 VND / dozen. The price of Da Lat artichoke fell sharply According to News / TTXVN, gardeners in Da Lat (Lam Dong) are starting to harvest the main artichoke crop with an average price of only about 50,000-60,000 VND / kg, much lower than previous months. . Recently, the prices of processed artichoke products fell sharply. Currently, the price of dried artichokes is only 180,000-200,000 VND / kg, fresh artichoke flowers are 50,000-60,000 VND / kg, previously from 300,000-400,000 VND / kg. The reason why Da Lat artichoke dropped sharply was mostly due to the poor consumption, the decrease of fresh artichoke products for export. Hanh Nguyen (Synthetic)