Mosquito Clouds Killing Deer, Cattle In Southwest Louisiana
Hurricane Laura left a wake of destruction across southwest Louisiana after making landfall late last month.
In its aftermath, clouds of mosquitoes have overrun the area.
The swarms of skeeters are so thick that as many as 400 cattle have been lost, according to Craig Fontenot, a large-animal veterinarian based in Ville Platte, Louisiana.
The clouds of mosquitos have left animals such as horses, deer and cattle anemic and bleeding under their skins from all the bites, Fontenot told The Associated Press.
The animals are getting exhausted from constantly moving in an attempt to avoid being bit, Fontenot added.
Jeremy Hebert, an agent at the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, told WWL-TV that he knows several cattle owners who lost as many as eight animals and that he’s heard about three horse deaths that were also mosquito-related.
Luckily for humans, the species of mosquitoes that are swarming don’t transmit human diseases easily, veterinarian Christine Navarre told USA Today.
Recent spraying seems to have thinned the hordes of mosquitoes, agents for LSU AgCenter told WWL-TV.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
