The Briefing Room
General Category => National/Breaking News => Topic started by: Elderberry on September 12, 2020, 03:17:11 am
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CBS News 9/11/2020
Clouds of mosquitoes have been so thick in southwest Louisiana since Hurricane Laura that they're killing animals, including horses and cattle. The vast number of bites leave horses and cattle anemic and bleeding under their skins.
The animals also become exhausted from constantly moving in an attempt to avoid the biting insects, a large-animal veterinarian based in Ville Platte told The Associated Press this week.
"They're vicious little suckers," said Dr. Craig Fontenot.
Farmers in a five-parish area east and northeast of the parishes where the storm made landfall in late August have probably lost 300 to 400 cattle, he said.
Fontenot said only a few horses and no goats have died, probably because they are generally kept in stalls which can be sprayed with insecticide, while cattle may graze in 50- or 100-acre pastures.
A deer rancher lost about 30 of his 110 animals, many of which had already been sold, Fontenot said.
More: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hurricane-laura-mosquitoes-kill-livestock-louisiana/ (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hurricane-laura-mosquitoes-kill-livestock-louisiana/)
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My backyard near the tree line sounds like a low frequncy buzz at dusk. And you can see a visible wavering mosquito cloud between 1 and 3 feet above the ground. Needless to say, I an not venturing out for morning coffee. And this time it seems worse than it was with Rita. Though we weren't even as remotely damaged as much as Rita. As bad as they are, I man not aware of any livestock casualties here yet though.
And a note to all the folks in my vicinity after Laura. Make sure you take heart worm precautions with the pups.
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If only there was some sort of safe pesticide that could be used to control these mosquitoes, something like..............................DDT.