MICE PLAGUE FORCES AUSTRALIAN PRISON TO EVACUATE INMATES
A prison in New South Wales has been forced to evacuate at least 420 inmates due to a mice plague. The evacuation also included the 200 staff members of the Wellington Correctional Centre.
Parts of the prison building's infrastructure have been broken down as the mice infestation became worse. Internal wiring and ceiling panels were chewed.
Inmates will be transferred to other prisons. This is according to what Commissioner Peter Severin of Corrective Services NSW told local authorities on Tuesday. Staff would be relocated too so that specialists can tackle the infestation.
They usually live in the fields and crops surrounding the building but, it is believed that the mice invaded the prison because they were looking for food and shelter. As the weather is getting colder, they overran the jail looking for food and shelter.
A bumper grain harvest contributed to the rapid spread of the animals across farms in the region, reports On Demand News. The prison is located in a rural area of the Australian state.
CNN reports that this plague is not a new phenomenon in the country. Australia has been seeing these outbreaks for the past decade. Farmland conditions have become more favourable for a mice invasion, and farmers have been dealing with significant losses.
Watch the 'On Demand' video below to see how the mice plague has caused damage in Australia.
Image credit: BBC