Man burns rodents alive, amidst Australian "Mouse Plague"

An Australian farmer sparked controversy on TikTok after sharing his method for addressing the so-called mouse plague that has been ravaging rural parts of Australia for several months.

© @andyj3825/TikTok In the wake of the Australian mouse plague, one farmer recently shared his controversial methods for killing vermin on TikTok.
As has been reported by outlets worldwide, the mouse plague has reached near-biblical proportions over the last six months. The negative effects of the rodent population boom (which experts attribute at least in part to increased rainfall) are far-reaching and include crop loss, poisoned native wildlife, and even house fires caused by rodents chewing on electric wiring behind walls.

In the TikTok post, user @andyj3825 - known only as Andrew - shows the extreme measures he's taken to rid his farm of the rodents. In the clip, hundreds of vermin are seen falling from a large piece of farm equipment before landing in a fiery blaze.

Specifically, wrote News.com.au, "mice infested his auger, a corkscrew-like farming machine." He then dropped the mice from a "grain conveyor" and into a "44 gallon drum" that had been set on fire. The mice are clearly alive as they fall into the flames: those who miss the fire are seen scampering away from the blaze.

The video gained immediate attention, already amassing 6.2 million views. Countless commenters are debating the ethics of his methods, with many arguing that the drastic measures are necessary while others call the video "cruel" and "heartless."

"This is brutal but I'm on the farmer's side here," read one comment in support of the TikToker.

"Seems cruel but the huge mice population is absolutely warfare. They're destroying all the crops and houses. Anything to stop them," echoed another.

Others held a different view. "The lack of empathy people have these days is concerning," wrote one commenter. "I think there are several methods of removal," said another. "Doing this is a demonstration of animal cruelty."

Farmer Facing 'Mouse Plague' Criticized for Burning Rodents Alive in Viral TikTok (msn.com)

 

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud says the pleas of a global animal rights organisation not to kill the mice plaguing regional New South Wales “just proves that PETA lives with the pixies."
PETA has pleaded with famers not to kill the rodents arguing they shouldn't be denied their "right" to food because of the "dangerous notion of human supremacy".
“This just proves that PETA lives with the pixies,” Mr Littleproud said.
“These people are on the fringe of society and are there for a reason.
“The reality is there no way you can catch and release mice.
“I mean I came home after a couple of weeks away and found them in my bed chewing my jammies.
“This is the reality that people in regional Australia are facing, there is a plague and there is human supremacy and that’s how we’ve evolved, otherwise we don’t, and we don’t survive."​

https://www.skynews.com.au/details/...ws&utm_term&utm_content&utm_medium=newsletter

 

He’s not wrong

 

Some may say this has to be done, it's obvious common-sense, but I see some inherent ethical issues here that cannot be denied.

Didn't the Nazis disarm the society's innate moral sensibilities by comparing a certain group of people to rats and vermin?

The fact is, if you can do this to one category of creature, you can do it to another. The slippery slope problem ultimately applies.

Mice and humans share 97.5% of the same DNA, and approximately 70% of the same protein-coding gene sequences.

 

Well they have to be killed somehow. Exterminators kill mice.

 

I don't see an ethical issue with it if there's an ethical issue killing mice then you should just let them overrun you. I'm not a vegan I'll kill a cow just because I want to eat it. I don't see a problem killing mice.

 

Cows are only 70% genetically related to humans, less than mice.

I don't know, there's got to be a better way. Couldn't they poison these mice with contraceptives so they'll stop reproducing?

 

Like what's the farmer supposed to do, pack 'em a bag lunch and put 'em on a bus to Sydney? May be hard to believe but life on this earth ain't a Disney cartoon. I'm sure if this farmer had a more viable alternative he'd use it.

 

who cares?

I think fire is pretty damn good. They're not going to live through it there's no carcasses to get rid of since they're all Ash, and it sterilizes them so there's not any disease.

 

I'm sure the Nazis would concur.

 

I think they want them to catch them and maybe kill them with CO2 it something, and let their little carcasses pile up and fester.

 

So you think exterminating mice is like the Holocaust so the Jewish person is the same thing as a mouse?

 

I'm just saying there's a slippery slope.

If you try to draw an ethical distinction, it will end up being an entirely arbitrary one.

 

Oh good, gas, how much more humane...

 

Hyperbole much there?

 

No there isn't.

So you can't distinguish between the human person and a mouse because I can't I can draw a very non-arbitrary distinction right there.

Here it comes.

Mice aren't people.

 

I'm okay with being a Nazi toward mice is say I'm worse to move than the Nazis were. I've killed entire families of mice, newborns. They are nice I don't care.

 

In the past, certain groups of people have been described as "not people".

(Heck, it's still being done in the abortion debate. But that's another story)

 

They are mice who cares? I've fed their babies to snakes and lizards. I don't care about mice.

 

I'm not discribing people as not people in discribing mice as not people.

Do you think mice are people?

 

Look up "gator babies"

 

People aren't mice. That's not an arbitrary distinction.

 

I can abort a thousand mice fetuses every day of my life and feel nothing. Mice aren't people

 

I feed them to snakes, the circle of life.

 

It's fun to watch.