© David W Cerny / Reuters
Australia will spend more than US$11 million in a bid to exterminate European carp by releasing a virulent strain of herpes into the country's largest waterway.
As much as 15 million Australian dollars will be spent on funding the clearing of the Murray-Darling Basin from the country's worst freshwater feral pest. This will be included into Tuesday's federal budget, Australian authorities said on Sunday.
Interestingly enough, the war on fish is to be waged by an unusual means -
the water will be contaminated with a special type of herpes, known as koi herpes.
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) scientists have been carrying out various tests for nearly a decade on other animals including chickens, mice, frogs, turtles and water dragons "to determine the safety and suitability" of the virus in dealing with an excessive carp population.
The virus was
proven to be harmless to humans and animals, but it causes kidney failure in carps, attacks their skin and kills the fish after sitting tight in its system for about seven days.
Comment: Nothing to worry about! Nothing unforeseeable could possibly happen with such a plan.