VILLE PLATTE, La. (AP) — Experts in southwest Louisiana say clouds of mosquitoes have been so thick since Hurricane Laura that they’re killing cattle and horses.
Veterinarian Craig Fontenot of Ville Platte says the swarms drain animals’ blood and animals also become exhausted from constantly moving in an attempt to avoid the biting insects.
He estimates that hundreds of cattle and a few horses have been killed in his five-parish area.
A photo he took shows mosquitoes blanketing a bull’s belly. Louisiana State University’s AgCenter agents say spraying has begun to thin the hordes pushed out of marshes by the storm that made landfall Aug. 27.