NSW Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall has blasted animal rights activist group PETA for telling farmers not to kill mice in a plague of epic proportions.
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PETA has urged farmers not to kill the "curious" animals that are "just looking for food to survive".
Mr Marshall said any such action would be devastating to the agricultural sector, the economy and the social fabric of country communities.
"This anti-farming group often comes up with some pretty bizarre stuff, but this is utter lunacy," he said.
"If they had their way, our farmers would simply roll over and let these mice, which are in plague proportions in a number of areas of the state, eat everything in the paddocks and their sheds.
"These dribblers need to spend some time out in the regions and see what our farmers are dealing with and have dealt with through the very worst nature could throw at them the last few years."
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The animal rights activist group has suggested farmers could create harmless traps and release the mice back into the wild.
Mr Marshall said he wasn't surprised PETA supported the "vermin" and called the group "dangerous, malicious and out of touch with reality".
"These people stand condemned - their comments are insulting and hurtful to people at the coalface having to deal with the cost and mental health toll these pests are causing," he said.
The state government has recently announced a $50 million support package and workshops to help farmers eradicate mice.
