PETA propose birth control and catch and release as a solution to the Australian mouse plague.

From what I gather the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) is currently undergoing a severe mouse plague, especially devastating to farmers.

The animal rights group PETA however has opposed the poisoning of the mice, proposing instead that the mice should be handled humanely with catch-and release methods and reducing numbers by birth-control.

In fact, one activist blames the government for not supplying the rodents with contraception earlier and removing them to places where 2 billion of the rodents are (one assumes) welcomed with open arms.

Anyone for mouse refugees?
How about it President Biden, or maybe Canada, or a last "no border" gesture from Chancellor Merkel?



Since then the PETA activist back-peddled a bit in response, and while sticking to their original preference of re-housing the mice and giving them birth-control (perhaps spaying or neutering them, I presume, or maybe there's some chemical pill for mice?) she also claims PETA are "realists" and that if the mice should be killed it should be a quick death.
au.news.yahoo.com...

I've had mice as pets as a boy-child, and I do see the emotional point.
They are sentient beings.
But humans are at the top of the food chain (and they're not indigenous in many parts of the world) and thus to forgo the suffering of other animals and humans killing them is unfortunately the only solution.

Although I suppose activists could rescue a number of them with appropriate enclosures and global re-housing.
I mean is the idea of a few "rescue mice" really so ridiculous?
But then it's time for such activists to step up and make the appropriate plans.
I've got an old fish-tank and could take a sterile Aussie rescue mouse.
I'm not sure what the South African government would think about that though.
We've already got tons of unwanted mice and rats here too, and charity should begin at home.

Hollywood could do much more, and I'm waiting for Harry and Meghan to adopt their share of Australian mice to augment Archie's rescue chickens.

A few years ago an animal rights group trapped a couple hundred feral cats where I live. They spayed or neutered them, vaccinated them and then let them go. In the time since this happened at least five small children have had to have Rabies shots. There's no markers on these animals to show that they have been vaccinated. In the mean time the local squirrel, rabbit and bird populations have been decimated.

I think that could be quite a good idea in the long run, considering how many offspring mice have in one litter some form of contraception should slow the population growth considerably. Also if it would stop other animals dying from ingesting poison from dead or dying mice that would be a good thing would it not?
I've had mice as pets and they are surprisingly intelligent and affectionate. I hate to think of any animal suffer a long drawn out death, most 'plagues' of some sort regarding prey species seem to be man -made due to over hunting of predators or (unavoidable you may say) stockpiling of foodstuff. In the UK I've seen the horrific effect of myxomatosis in rabbits, introduced at a time when their only natural predator here, the fox, was still being hunted. Ok that's a disease not a poison but it's still a nasty way to go all the same. At the very least the PETA's idea is a different approach than the normal poison everything that gets in the way of human endeavour mindset.
Having said that my cat is an absolute terror for killing mice, I wish she'd stop that. she doesn't even eat them.

a reply to: Gravehopper
Yip, cats work great here to control mice, although I've heard from a relative in NSW that they've had problems with cats killing the local wildlife and thus cat ownership is curtailed (they're not allowed outside at night, I believe) and there's a degree of anti-cat sentiment.

What we have in my area is squirrels all over the place, especially since the lock-down.
They're on the roads and everywhere.
Not long ago you had to go to the Company Gardens in Cape Town to see squirrels (or perhaps a nature reserve, although these are not the indigenous species, which are endangered these days).

Sciurus carolinensis, or the grey squirrel, is not indigenous to Cape Town but was brought here by Cecil John Rhodes in the 19th century. These furry-tailed friends live mostly in urban gardens and on plantations and the fact that they can’t eat fynbos has curbed their spread across the province. Originally from North America, these squirrels are loved by most but despised by some.

www.capetown.travel...

Cats won't touch them.
They're quite huge.
The cuteness factor is dwindling fast however, especially after narrowly avoiding a traffic accident because they arrogantly sit in the road.

I fear it's just a matter of time until we have a similar squirrel dilemma.

I'd like a bit more info on the proposed mouse "birth control" though.

Would that be a chemical, like the pill for mice, or would that mean catching the mice, and the poor gentlemen mice would get their tackle snipped?
I'm not sure that's a fate better than death.
It may amount to forcing the gentlemen mice to become eunuchs (yeah I'm sure that will fly in "woke" circles).

Would there be abortions for female mice?
Is that ethical (I mean you'd still be killing them at some stage of life)?
Will chemicals be mouse specific, or also affect the local wildlife?

It may sound frivolous to what must be a real disaster in NSW, but as we head towards a more humane future (I hope, I mean there's already humane traps available and so forth, where rodent numbers are much lower), these are real questions while searching for "humane" solutions.

a reply to: halfoldman
when the NSW food production slows to a crawl...everyone can get a fancy food/meal delivery service like Blue Apron and further jump in the pockets of the globalists.

Kissinger must be giddy

If they want to fund it themselves and supply the people and resources to do it, all the more power.

If they want government or someone else to pay for it and do the work, then cats and traps.

PETA can pay for it.

a reply to: halfoldman

I rather trust you my friend and not finish watching that video about an stupid idea. Sometimes I got a mouse at home, we hunt it, kill it with a trap or whatever is available and that's it. Everybody knows I love animals and rescue them, but mice and rats carry diseases.

Concerning cats in Australia, now I'm not an expert, but it seems feral cats were also a plague, and even pet-owners are quite astute in controlling cat behavior that could cause harm to local wildlife:

www.nytimes.com...

Well, unfortunately when it comes to Mickey and his buddies (as the ancient Egyptians already knew), when the cat's away, the mice shall play.
A catch-22 I suppose.

So I guess getting more cats to control the mice (sounds quite reasonable to a 19th century mind) is out of the question.

Not a fan of PETA, but I am also not a fan of poison. However, see sense in some circumstances - like the eradication of rats on South Georgia as per this link.

Appreciate these mouse-plagues in Aussie-land are on an unimaginable scale though. It's probably a good idea to find a way to disrupt the reproducive cycle, so that may be better in the longer-term.

There is actually a form of mouse birth control, which claims to be herbal and non-toxic.
I really don't know much more about it than that.
conntraceptol.com...

Our kitty is a very good mouser, but good to know for future reference.
It would be great if it worked for gray squirrels too.

Lol, I'm all for being humane, but this is ridiculously unrealistic..to be polite. I have seen some horrific vids from there.

a reply to: halfoldman
OK the above mouse contraceptive feed is placed in a box that allows a single adult female mouse in at a time (ideally, it seems).
However, what makes me wonder about mouse morality:

Fill the feeding station in the mouse cage as often as needed from the supplied CONNTRACEPTOL®. Studies indicate that the presence of male pheromones results in feeding visits comprised of 68 females and 32 males

conntraceptol.com...

I'm not sure why the 32 males would be attracted to male pheromones?
No, cough cough, "mouse sodomy" is just too "unnatural" to think about.
My pet mice Pinky and Arthur would never have thought of that.
I'm sure the nostrils are just blocked with cheese or something.

Although for a plague I'm sure this is unworkable, and still no assurance that massive amounts of this will not affect local mammals.
I mean currently you'd probably have to spray this stuff with crop-dusters in affected areas.

Is this the same PETA whose own animal shelter is best described as “Pet Auschwitz”?

I swear they have hurt and killed more animals than they have helped. In fact i know they have.

Their ideas around the rats are probably less humane than the poisoning. Rat Refugees? Refugees in most of the world suffer greatly.

Rats are pests and vermin. Their overpopulation causes all other plant and animal life to suffer. The rats will suffer as well. Less food means lots of impoverished, starving rats. Even the lucky surviving rodents will be better off. I say that as someone who owns a pet rat.

I've seen that in some countries, and further up north in Australia invasive cane toads, for example, have already been turned into fashionable luxury items.
www.abc.net.au...

How about a nice mouse coat, watch-strap or purse?

Maybe, but I doubt PETA would be pleased with that.

I was just looking at whether mice could be used as food.

What popped up first was that mice in New York City are evolving to eat fast-food, like pizza.
www.newscientist.com...

And then, for the prepper, survivalist and keto-diet minded:
practicalselfreliance.com...

The FDA for example, allows for a certain "trace" amount of bugs and rodent hairs and poop in various foods in any case:
www.huffpost.com...

Instead of shrimps, why not throw some mice on the barbie?
Assuming they're not poisoned, of course.

Once again the lesser of two evils as far as protein wastage goes, but probably too slow to control a plague.

a reply to: halfoldman

If humans were not so #ing stupid they would catch and eat those mice themselves.

And to think, Australia actually has an indigenous marsupial "mouse" called a Kaluta.

Being regionally constrained, a further limitation to this species is in fact it's insatiable sex drive:

In the arid, unforgiving climes of Western Australia’s Pilbara region, the kaluta’s greatest enemy is its own insatiable sex drive. This tiny, meat-eating marsupial thrives against all odds in the harsh conditions of the outback—foraging through the sandy soil, sniffing out prey among hillocks of spinifex—right up until the annual mating period, in September, when the males of the species literally f# themselves to death. New research by Dr Genevieve Hayes, who studied kalutas’ mating behaviour as part of her PhD at the University of Western Australia, confirms that males perish after a single, intense mating session, the ABC reports. This synchronised death, which typically takes place during the annual two-week breeding period, is known as a male die-off.

www.vice.com...

I hope that whatever poison or contraceptive method is used against invasive mice does not have any impact on this unique species.

Goodness, so the males have a really intense session.
This is so exciting, my little heart can't take it.
Meanwhile the females are probably doing their nails and watching The 90 Days Wombat Fiance thinking, is he collapsing yet?
Yawn, no point making chit-chat or whispering sweet nothings, every September it's the same old story.
Pity, this year he was a real cutie.
Oh well, at least he died doing something he enjoyed.

a reply to: halfoldman

You left one of the best parts out.

In the local articles I’ve read they are claiming it is “human supremacy” (no, I am not joking) that is the driving force behind wanting to eradicate the mouse plague.