As you may already know, Laura (a category 4 hurricane) made landfall in Louisiana on August 27th. Laura caused a lot of rain to pour down which may not seem that bad at first, but what happened after was something no one expected.

All of that rain caused swarms of mosquitoes to invade Louisiana, killing hundreds of livestock. Everything from deer to bulls weren’t safe from these invaders. What made it even worse was that the mosquitoes would force the animals to run out into the summer heat until they got exhausted and eventually collapsed. After that it would be a free meal for them.

Farmers who work near where the storm made landfall lost an estimated 300-400 cattle.

After heavy rainfall, larger mosquito numbers do usually occur. However, after the hurricane the number of them was a lot larger than normal. “I’ve never experienced anything like this,” said Jermey Herbert, a Louisiana State University AgCenter agent.

While these types of mosquitoes don’t spread human disease as easily as other types, Jermey says that people in the area still need to take precautions for their own safety. He recommends that people wear long shirts and pants to prevent exposing too much skin.

While humans can take steps to protect themselves, livestock cannot. While some may get lucky and survive, they’ll most likely have to deal with heavy weight loss and less immunity against diseases for the rest of their lives. 

This isn’t just happening in Louisiana, stories like this have also happened in areas such as Texas and Florida after big storms. So if you happen to have any kind of livestock, always be extra cautious after a hurricane.

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