An estimated 2 billion field mice are chomping their way through
crops in 22 counties around Dongting Lake in central China's Hunan Province after their island habitats
were flooded.
Local authorities in Yiyang, Yuanjiang, Junshan, and Huarong are
rushing to build walls and dig ditches to keep the mice away from
flood-control dikes and cropland.
The mice burrow through the dikes and spread out into the
fields, eating crops and posing a threat to human health. They
could also contribute to flooding because it is the rainy season in
the area, said experts with the Hunan provincial office of plant
protection and quarantine.
In Yiyang, to the north of Dongting Lake, a long wall and a
30-60 cm deep ditch have been built on the lakeside to resist the
mice invasion. On Monday the ditch was alive with mice, and a
thick, dark wedge of little animals jostled and heaved at the foot
of the wall.
Local residents used clubs and shovels to kill the mice, and
some even lowered down fishing nets to catch the mice alive,
scooping several kilograms of mice at each attempt.
More than 2.25 million mice -- about 90 tons of rodents -- have
been killed since June 21, local authorities said.
The massive invasion of field mice began on June 23 when the
Yangtze River flooded, raising the water level in Dongting Lake and
submerging mouse holes on islands in the lake, said Hunan plant
protection experts.
In Yuanjiang, Junshan, and Huarong, where local people were
slower to build walls and ditches, mice have already damaged
flood-control dikes and ruined crops.
The mice threat will remain with more floods forecast in the
upper reaches of the Yangtze River and Dongting Lake, said
experts.
(Xinhua News Agency July 10, 2007)