Mosquitos Get Blame
For Livestock Deaths

NEW ORLEANS — Cattle and horses are dying from mosquito attacks in Louisiana, brought on by a combination of drouth earlier in the year and overly abundant rainfall in recent days.

"This is the worst year that I have ever seen, and I've been commissioner for almost 20 years, and I've been in the department for almost 40 years," said Agriculture Commissioner Bob Odom.

Lake Charles veterinarian Ted Shope said at least a dozen bulls and horses, mostly very young or very old, died last week from mosquito bites. The summer drouth kept mosquito eggs from hatching. Then high tides, floods and rain triggered by Hurricane Earl, Tropical Storm Frances and Tropical Storm Hermine brought on a swarm.

"All of the mosquito eggs were waiting," Shope said. "Instead of an intermediate hatching over 90 days, they all hatched at one time."

"The mosquitos have drawn all the blood out of the animals," Shope said. "A debilitated animal or a young animal loses when a million mosquitos attack."

It's so bad, the animals keep walking at night, trying to escape the pests, and are exhausted. Some cattle drowned because they waded into a pond to avoid mosquitos, then more of the herd crowded in, and the first were pushed into deep waters, he said.