Return of the rodents: Australia’s farmers on high alert for another mouse plague

One night's worth of caught mice on Max Sculc's property in Esperance, Western Australia. He's caught more than 2,000 in a few weeks. Photograph: Max Sculc

In Latham, in Western Australia’s wheat belt, the telltale signs of mice holes are everywhere on Dylan Hirsch’s canola farm.

As winter approaches, the rodents have moved in, digging up seeds before they’ve germinated and chewing his newly laid crop.