‘Hordes of mosquitoes’ are killing livestock after Hurricane Laura, farmers say
Two weeks after Hurricane Laura made landfall in Louisiana, swarms of mosquitoes are killing livestock in the area, farmers say.
Farmers in five parishes near where the storm came ashore have lost between 300 and 400 cattle to mosquitoes, Craig Fontenot, a large-animal veterinarian, told the Associated Press.
Vince Deshotel with the Louisiana State University AgCenter said mosquitoes recently killed one of his bulls, adding that he knows of four other people who’ve had cattle die due to the insects.
A deer rancher in the area also reported losing between 30 and 100 animals to mosquitoes — several of which had already been sold, according to the outlet. The rancher said the loss has cost him $100,000.
Mosquitoes can drain blood from livestock, which then keep moving in an attempt to fend off the insects, the AgCenter reported. The animals ultimately get exhausted and can’t get enough oxygen, leading to death, Fontenot told the center.
Hurricane Laura drove “hordes of mosquitoes” out of marshes, causing the insect population to skyrocket in the southwest portion of Louisiana, according to the AgCenter.
Flooding and excess moisture from storms create an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes.
While the insects aren’t likely to survive hurricane-force winds, flooding after the storm will cause mosquito eggs previously laid in the soil to hatch, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
This causes the population of floodwater mosquitoes to skyrocket, according to the agency.
After the storm, female mosquitoes will also lay eggs — up to 200 per insect— as waters recede, according to pest control outfit MosquitoNix. The insects can lay eggs in as little as two teaspoons of water, making neighborhoods with standing water especially attractive to the insects.
“They hatch in as few as one to three days — that’s why we’re really seeing an uptick across the board,” Jessica Fredeiu of Mosquito Joe pest control told KADN.
Fredeiu added that the problem is so bad that some people in rural communities can’t even open their front doors.
Several parishes are using pest control sprays in an effort to decrease the mosquito population. When it’s all said and done, spraying in Evangeline Parish will have taken about two weeks, according to the Ville Platte Gazette.
“I wanted to ensure that the mosquito control company would not miss a single roadside in the parish,” police jury president Ryan Williams told the newspaper.
The mosquito problem is also affecting Americans farther north.
Officials in St. Louis County, Missouri, have reported an uptick in the mosquito population, attributing it to humidity and moisture from Hurricane Laura, KSDK reported.
“The higher temperatures allow mosquitoes to go through their life cycle faster. So they actually reproduce quicker and the extra moisture, obviously, just creates more breeding habitat,” Jim Sayer with St. Louis County Vector Control told the outlet.
To protect yourself from mosquito bites, the CDC recommends wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants when outside and EPA-registered insect repellents.
When it comes to protecting livestock, veterinarian Christine Navarre suggests applying topical repellents to animals — just make sure they are approved for that species, she told the AgCenter. Fans can also be used to keep livestock cool.
