Armegeddon Watch

A couple of weeks ago I read the story about the streets covered with frogs in Greece. Today I read a story about the worst locust plague in decades in Australia. Then of course we have the gulf spill. Hmmm...maybe there's something to that Mayan thing in 2012. I'm not ready to start building the ark yet, but for those inclined here is the official start of our own Armegeddon Watch!

All of these stories are from the past month.

Australia faces huge locust plague

Farmers across the Australian Outback have been warned of a potential explosion of locusts in the coming months, after a plague of millions of the grasshopper-like insects swept across four states earlier this month.


Newest Greece Crisis: "Carpet of Frogs"
Greek officials say a horde of frogs has forced the closure of a key northern highway for two hours.

Thessaloniki traffic police chief Giorgos Thanoglou says "millions" of the amphibians covered the tarmac Wednesday near the town of Langadas, some 12 miles east of Thessaloniki.

"There was a carpet of frogs," he said.


Fly epidemic hits villages near Corby

The Evening Telegraph reported on Wednesday about a plague of flies which had descended on houses in Weldon.

Residents believed the flies must be coming from the nearby household waste tip.

But now people living in nearby Deene and Gretton say their homes have also been besieged by plagues of flies.

Plague of rats strikes Nelson

Rats and mice in the Nelson region are breeding in plague proportions, with one pest controller having killed an estimated 15,000 rats on one rural Waimea property.

Rodents aren't only causing trouble in rural areas. Exterminators are also busy helping desperate homeowners who have rodents chewing through plastic pipes, plastic light fittings and electrical wiring.

Tasman Trappers owner Brenton McInnes said he had been a pest controller for more than 10 years and this year was the worst year for rodents that he had seen "by a long shot".

"There are just massive numbers [of rats], and mice are no different," he said.

So much bait had been taken from a 30-hectare market garden that Mr McInnes initially thought it was being stolen.

Mr McInnes conservatively estimates the rat population there was more than 15,000, based on the poison consumed during a two to three-month period, and he was "still getting them".