Farmer dealing with mouse plague sparks big TikTok debate after burning rodents alive

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A farmer in rural Australia had to defend himself after sharing a video on TikTok of him burning mice alive in a barrel.

Areas from central Queensland to central and northern New South Wales and west Victoria have been overrun by mice in the past six months, destroying crops and even burning houses.

Although many farmers turn to industrial chemicals approved by the New South Wales government, a NSW farmer named Andrew Jones has chosen a more controversial method.

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In a TikTok video shared by Jones, dozens of mice are seen falling from a grain conveyor into a burning barrel. Some of the mice can escape and scurry away, but many fall into the fire.

(Andrew Jones / TikTok)

Jones reportedly found the mice that were feeding on food in a farm machine and decided to take matters into their own hands. His video has been viewed more than six million times on TikTok, but his methods didn’t go down well.

Many have described his approach as “inhuman” and “messy” with one person adding, “I think there are several methods of removal. This is a demonstration of cruelty to animals. “

However, some agreed with him, even if his method was “brutal”. One person wrote: “Sounds cruel, but the huge mouse population is absolutely warfare. You’re destroying all of the … crops and houses. Everything to stop them. “

Amid the backlash, Jones responded to a person who asked if he could kill them “more humanely”. In response, he said, “So it’s human to bait them? They slowly die over time … drowning them is human. Give me a humane way to kill them and I’ll do it. “

(Andrew Jones / TikTok)

So far, efforts to contain the mice have been unsuccessful as reports of poison use by farmers unfortunately resulted in the deaths of dogs and native birds.

Animal rights group PETA has suggested that a capture and release approach might be the best way to deal with the mice, but even they admitted that given the scale of the problem, a lethal response might be required.

The NSW government has announced that farmers will have access to treatment that can turn their crops into mouse bait to use around their goods.