According to reports in the local media, rats have taken over a fishing community in Queensland, northeastern Australia. They have been seen gnawing through cars and homes, jumping on boats, and consuming crops. On the nearby beaches, footage of thousands of dead rodents washing up on the strand has also been captured.
Since “a few weeks,” the endemic long-haired rodents have been making their way into Karumba from the south via rivers, according to local Jon Jensen, who spoke with broadcaster Nine News on Wednesday.
He claimed that they “almost seem trained and organised” and that they “come in waves.” “They are numerous, and they swim in the rivers like tiny puppy dogs.”
After spending so much time in the water, the rats are ravenous, and when they do manage to make it ashore, Jensen said, “they’re eating anything and everything they can get their hands on.”
Not very long ago, according to Yvonne Tunney, a resident of Karumba, “the river was just alive with rats floating around,” as she told Guardian Australia earlier this week.
To try and contain the infestation, the 500 or so residents of the village have been utilising bait and traps. Predators such as whistling kites and wedge-tailed eagles have been feeding on the rats, which has left their stomachs so full that Jensen said, “they can barely get off the ground.”
Though the man claims that “we’re sort of just learning to live with them,” the number of rats in Karumba doesn’t seem to be decreasing.
Dead rodent corpses have also been scattered around the area shorelines. Fishing charter owner Jemma Probert told ABC that her employees had to fend off rats trying to get on the boats by climbing the anchor’s chains. “They swim out to the sandbanks at low tide, and when the water comes up, they drown, and their bodies are washed back onto the beach,” Probert said.
Luke Leung, an associate professor of ecology at the University of Queensland, told ABC that the record rainfall earlier this year had given the rats plenty of food and lush foliage to nest in, which was the reason behind the surge in their population.
Following reports of similar incidents in Winton, Richmond, Julia Creek, and other nearby towns, Karumba has now been attacked by the rat epidemic once more.
