Australian prison to be evacuated due to plague of mice

A plague of mice that has ravaged vast swathes of eastern Australia has forced the evacuation of a prison while authorities repair gnawed electrical wiring and clear dead and decaying mice from walls and ceilings.

"The health, safety and wellbeing of staff and inmates is our No. 1 priority so it’s important for us to act now to carry out the vital remediation work," Severin said. Millions of mice have caused havoc in the grain-growing region of Australia’s most populous state for months, devouring crops and haystacks as well as invading homes, businesses, schools, hospitals and prisons.