Mouse plague hits Australia when hospital patients are ‘attacked’ by rodents

Chilling footage shows hundreds of rodents running free amid reports of hospitalized patients being bitten.

People living in New South Wales, Australia, say they are enduring their worst plague of mice “in decades.”

A bountiful harvest of grains follows that has seen the small animals grow in numbers.

The images show hundreds of small rodents swarming around a farm in the city of Gilgandra.

“At night … the ground moves with thousands upon thousands of mice running around,” farmer Ron Mckay told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Supermarkets are storing food in sealed containers and at least three patients at the local hospital have been bitten by the mice, the broadcaster said.

“You can imagine that every time you open a closet, every time you go to your pantry, there are mice present,” said Steve Henry, a rodent expert.

“And they’re eating your food containers, they’re messing your clean bedding in your clothes closet, they’re running around your bed at night.”

Farmers who made hay bales for the winter hope to lose a lot to the rapidly reproducing rodents.

Local media reported that just one pair of mice can produce on average up to 500 pups in one season.

Intensive baiting programs so far have had little success against the infestation, and locals expect the heavy rains to drown the mice in their burrows.