Posted on 09/10/2020 8:36:25 PM PDT by amorphous
Thick swarms of mosquitoes pushed out of southwestern Louisiana's marshes by Hurricane Laura are killing cattle and horses.
"The population just exploded in the southwest part of the state," Jeremy Hebert, a Louisiana State University AgCenter agent in Acadia Parish, said in a news release.
Dr. Craig Fontenot, a large-animal veterinarian based in Evangeline Parish, told the Associated Press 300 to 400 head of cattle have been lost since Laura hit the state on Aug. 27.
(Excerpt) Read more at weather.com ...
“The spraying has dropped the populations tremendously. It’s made a night-and-day difference,” Acadia Parish agent Jeremy Hebert said.
The insects remain a big problem in Calcasieu and Jefferson Davis parishes, though spraying has reduced the severity a bit, said Jimmy Meaux, AgCenter agent for those parishes.
Livestock deaths from mosquitoes aren’t a new phenomenon. Fontenot said they also occurred after Hurricane Lili in 2002 and Hurricane Rita in 2005. Florida and Texas have had similar problems after hurricanes, he said.
https://www.katc.com/news/evangeline-parish/thick-clouds-of-mosquitoes-kill-livestock-after-hurricane
I wish the article would explain how mosquitos can kill cattle. I’ve never hear of cattle or people dying from mosquitos - besides diseases like malaria.
This is the stuff of nightmares. I never even heard of this phenomenon. I found an article with a photo of a bull’s stomach covered with mosquitoes. No wonder they can’t take it.
https://globalnews.ca/news/7326419/killer-mosquitoes-cows-louisana-swarm/
Exactly my thoughts
But we are far from the parishes that got so much rain.
Additionally, the spraying is done from roads and streets.
If we could eliminate all mosquitoes, should we? Or is the up—the-food-chain impact on other species too great?
So, this is a new phenomenon, it’s never happened before? After hundreds of years of animal husbandry in the area this is a first,? Veterinarians have never encountered this until now? Just curious.
Disgusting. Need to nuke the little bastards.
They kill by simple blood loss and the anti-coagulant they inject to aid in their blood sucking. They may leave but the anti-coagulant lingers in in such quantity that the victim bleeds under the skin. Adding to that since the blood does not continue to circulate I’d imagine the victim can’t heat exchange and also suffers from heat prostration or stroke.
I’ve seen them in Alaska so thick you can sweep them off the boat and your arms that are covered by a thick shirt. They frantically try to get to your skin through the cloth. You see that and know that they could eat you to death. All that is after spraying down with high concentration DEET.
Maybe DDT would help?
How many cattle die in any given two week period?
DDT would definitely help
Yer a racist deplorable!/sarc
Seen it happen decades ago too as a kid... major reason isn’t blood loss, it’s the starving of air as these swarms fill the cows nose and mouth.
That’s how their stomach can have the mass of these little black monsters.
“I wish the article would explain..”
A friendly reminder: You’ve got all human knowledge at your fingertips.
On average, you lose 1/8 of the herd per year.
I was born in New Orleans, lived out in St. Charles parish, and some of my earliest memories are of the mosquito fogging trucks driving through the neighborhood. My mom always hustled me inside when they showed up.
If there’s many mosquitoes that are are so thick & ravenous in Alaska, how do people not occasionally die? Seems like that would make news.
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