topo, mouse plague forces Australian prison to evacuate staff and inmates

A plague of mice in the Australian state of New South Wales has forced a prison to evacuate at least 420 inmates and 200 staff, according to local authorities.

The mouse infestation at the Wellington Correctional Centre broke down parts of the prison building's infrastructure, damaging internal wiring and ceiling panels.

Corrective Services NSW Commissioner Peter Severin said Tuesday inmates would be transferred to other prisons, and staff would be relocated while authorities battle the infestation.

Parts of Australia have been plagued by mice since last August. Since then, rodents have ravaged fields and infested homes, causing millions of dollars of damage to crops and machinery.

But this is not a new phenomenon -- the country has been seeing these outbreaks for the past decade. Farmland conditions have become more favorable for a mice invasion, and as a result, farmers have been dealing with significant losses, Henry said.

"One of the things that happens is that the numbers of mice usually drop dramatically in the winter," Henry said. But this year, farmers are concerned the plague may continue into summer because of the unusually high number of mice compared to past years.

Mice are "carpeting the roads" in rural towns like Wellington this year, said Henry, adding he's never seen anything like it.

New South Wales saw almost as much rain in 2020 as in the previous two years combined, creating fertile ground for a bumper harvest and ideal conditions for mice.

The state's government has looked into tools to help farmers in ending the mice plague, including free rodenticide poison and mice-killing chemicals.