Locust plague hits Aussie Outback
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Large swarms of locusts are being found in inland Australia.
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SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) -- A massive outbreak of crop-eating locusts has been triggered by heavy rains that broke the worst Australian drought in a century to generate record crops and flood parts of the Outback.
It is the worst outbreak since up to 100 billion of the pests were spawned in December 2000.
"We're talking mega-numbers here;" Walter Spratt, operations manager for the Australian Plague Locust Commission, said on Thursday.
Australia's big wheat, barley and canola crops have just been harvested and are safe in silos around the country, but locusts are breeding near sorghum and cotton crops.
Locust fighters are spraying targeted areas of more than 1,000 square km (386 sq miles) in southwest Queensland state, where the worst outbreak has occurred, and parts of northwest New South Wales state.
Aerial bombardment of the "hoppers" so far has been a losing battle, with new swarms discovered over far-flung inland areas.
Able to travel 700 km (435 miles) in a single night's flight, the locusts now threaten to spread to other parts of Australia -- possibly inland into the Outback and to more heavily populated eastern coastal areas.
"They're not flying yet but they should start putting on wings in the next 10 days," Spratt said.
Surveys before and after drought-breaking January rain showed clearly that the deluge which flushed Australia's sluggish rivers back to life also triggered the locust outbreak, Spratt said, adding that breeding conditions were now ideal.
The first locust generation came 10 days after the rain. Adult locusts have followed up with three, four or five layings of 30 to 50 eggs each.
"The more we look the more we find," Spratt said.
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Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
