Radio host Ben Fordham and prime minister Scott Morrison have slammed trendy animal rights activist PETA for for urging farmers to avoid killing mice as the plague of tiny rodents will suffer ‘horrible deaths’.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals on Tuesday pleaded with farmers not to kill the ‘curious animals’ that are ‘just looking for food to survive’.
‘They shouldn’t be robbed of that right because of the dangerous notion of human supremacy,’ PETA spokeswoman Aleesha Naxakis said.
PETA spokeswoman Aleesha Naxakisas (pictured) on Tuesday pleaded with farmers to avoid killing the mice as they are ‘just looking for food to survive’
PETA’s comments come as Dubbo farmer shared footage of hundreds of mice in makeshift trap (pictured)
The organisation suggested farmers create humane traps that ‘allow small animals to be caught gently and released unharmed’ instead of using poisons.
The 2GB host questioned the animals rights group on Wednesday morning before challenging the activists to take in the mice at the PETA headquarters.
‘Where can we drop the mice off, where do you live?’ Mr Fordham asked.
Ms Nazakis said PETA was not ‘anti-farmer’ and insisted it was ‘unfair that these mice are going to suffer these horrible deaths’.
‘That’s a good one, look – I think I need to be clear here. It’s definitely our common advice when it comes to rodent control to avoid poisons, which subjects these animals to unbearably painful deaths,’ she said.
PETA spokeswoman Aleesha Naxakis (pictured) said the mice shouldn’t be killed because of the ‘dangerous notion of human supremacy.’
Radio host ben Fordham (pictured) slammed PETA activists who are urging farmers to save mice that are devastating regional farmers
Farmers have collected scores of rodents across Australia (pictured above) who have been causing havoc with stock. Pictured is the plague in Dubbo in central-west NSW
The activist said the lobby group believes the government is responsible for ‘finding better, more humane, long term solutions for farmers and mice’.
‘These mice are going to suffer these horrible deaths they are going to be choking, gasping for air, bleeding internally,’ she said.
She admitted her initial advice to capture and release the animals was ‘not a suitable solution in this situation’ but it was the organisation’s ‘common advice when we are speaking about rodent control’.’
Prime Minister Scott Morrisson has also dismissed PETA’s plea as ‘pretty dopey’ as the ‘devastation and heartbreak’ of the plague continues to affect NSW farmers.
‘It’s just one thing after another … and apart from the comments being very insensitive to the plight of those farmers … it’s pretty dopey,’ he said.
Sarah Pye, from Dubbo in central New South Wales, setup a ramp inside one of her shipping containers to force the masses of mice to fall into a large tub of water and drown
The backlash comes after a farmer desperately trying to rid her property of mice filmed the stomach-churning moment she caught thousands of the pests with a makeshift trap.
Sarah Pye, from Dubbo in central New South Wales, set up a ramp inside one of her shipping containers to force the mice to fall into a large tub of water and drown.
Sharing the footage of her ‘mouse trap’, thousands of rodents were seen struggling to make it out of the tub.
Ms Pye’s method is just one of many farmers have been forced to use to combat mice plagues across regional NSW – with stores across the state selling out of traps.
Multiple Bunnings stores have been stripped bare of rodent-killing products due to overwhelming demand.
Another farmer in Dubbo, Tracey Jones, earlier told Daily Mail Australia she and her husband were struggling to sleep due to the constant scampering of mice in their walls.
PETA spokesperson Aleesha Naxakis (pictured, left) urges everyone to remember that mice feel pain and fear, just as dogs, cats, and farmers do.
‘People out here are struggling badly with them in our houses,’ she said.
‘My 90-year-old mother in law is living out of an esky because it’s the only way she can mouse-proof her food.
‘Mice are in everything, rooves and walls eating wiring, cupboards and pantries eating, nesting in and soiling in food and clothing, in cars and machinery chewing through wiring.
‘The smell of dead mice is overwhelming, it’s everywhere.’
Mice have been running rampant through large tracts of inland NSW, northern Victoria, southern Queensland and South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula, destroying crops and causing significant damage to tonnes of stored hay and grain.
Farmers have described the crippling plague as devastating to their livelihoods.
The NSW government recently announced a $50 million relief package to address the plague.
Bunnings Orange (pictured) in central NSW was running low on rodent traps and bait last week due to the mouse plague
Some farmers estimated they’d suffered losses of between $50,000 and $150,000 due to grain and fodder being destroyed, according to the NSW Farmers Grains Committee.
On top of this, a survey on farmers around NSW found that more than 80 per cent had suffered significant damage to machinery and infrastructure from mice.
It was also found that 75 per cent of farmers couldn’t access bait when they needed it most.