Thousands of rats have reportedly been washing up — either dead or dying — on the shores of communities along the Gulf of Carpentaria in Queensland as they search for food amid a rodent plague in the state.
Tourists and residents have posted videos and photos of rats washing up on the beaches of Karumba, a popular fishing town which locals say is being inundated by a “plague of rats”.
“We headed down for our nightly fishing expedition to find the beach littered with washed-up rats,” one local said in a social media post.
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“We are unable to fish off the beaches at the moment due to the number of them and the smell.”
The same local described dead rats floating in the water or washing up on the shore, with those animals that survived looked a little worse for wear.
Experts say a booming population of rats after good rain and crop harvests inland are now moving to the coast and even offshore to nearby islands in search of food.
Kerry D Fishing Charters owner Jemma Probert told 7NEWS.com.au the smell of the dead and dying rats was “horrible”.
“They are jumping into the water and trying to swim but end up drowning and washing back up on the beach leaving a horrible smell,” she said.
Good rain periods have contributed to increased crop harvests, resulting in a rapid boom in the population of rats and other rodents in the state’s interior since June.
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) says the rodent population has been on the rise since 2021, with the plague of mice and rats slowly heading north.
“Mouse populations have reached plague conditions not seen since 2011,” CSIRO researcher Steve Henry said.
“This is largely due to favourable climatic conditions which have created optimal conditions for mice to breed.”
It is believed the rats arrived in Karumba after eating their way north over months, with many taking to the water to try to swim to a nearby sand island in search of more food — but many are not surviving the trip.
“Most rodents eat vegetation, seeds, they’ll eat insects, and they’ll eat everything at plague proportions,” University of Sydney ecology professor Mathew Crowther told Yahoo.
Some locals have other theories, saying recent bushfires in the area may be causing the mass exodus of rats leaving burning bushland.
“This happened back in the ’90s here in Karumba,” one local said. “They came ashore after (we) had fires in the area.”
Locals are worried the unwelcome visitors may have a detrimental affect on the local tourism industry.
“I have no idea why they are here but I hope they go quickly as this is not nice for tourists,” Probert said.
“They have tried to crawl onto our boat while we are fishing with customers on board and we have had to flick them off with a stick.”
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