Australian mouse plague: ‘napalming’ rodents could kill native and domestic animals too

NSW government lodges emergency request to deploy powerful bait currently outlawed for use in fields

Leading rodent experts say they aren't convinced" a new poison spruiked by the New South Wales government as napalm" for mice will significantly impact the state's plague, and warn it comes at a vastly higher risk of killing native and domestic animals.

Rodents are still running rampant across large tracts of inland NSW and southern Queensland, costing some farmers more than $100,000 in destroyed crops and damage to stored hay and grain. Cases of leptospirosis - a potentially deadly disease that can transfer from mice to humans - have almost doubled in Queensland this year, with health authorities citing the increased rodent numbers as a possible cause.