Even bigger than last year's plague, southeast Australia's rodent infestation has been blamed on recent mild winters (which have extended the breeding season) and the wet summers and long, dry autumns (which have increased food supply). The mice destroyed an estimated Aus$100 million worth of crops in 1993; already in 1994, more than 50 percent of cereal and bean crops in NSW have been damaged. Favourable weather is also aiding an increase in rat numbers. ("Australia: Huge plague of mice set to march on farmlands", Sydney Morning Herald, 6 April 1994; "Mice Bring a Plague on All Their Farms", Time Australia, 2 May 1994).
Note: Mild weather conditions and excellent grain harvests combined to provide exceptional breeding conditions for mice in mid-winter 1993. 100,000 hectares of pasture land were devastated in South Australia, causing an estimated Aus$20 million damage. Warm weather has contributed to other rodent plagues in Australia in recent years - in 1987, central New South Wales was struck by a mice infestation which caused Aus$1.2 million damage to grain harvests, while a prime wheat growing area, Darling Downs, Queensland, lost 30 percent of the summer crop to mice in 1989.
GREENPEACE Climate Impacts Database