Here's one of the consequences of a hurricane that you rarely hear about unless you live in the affected area.
This is like something out of a horror film.
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.
Cattle stand on higher ground after Hurricane Laura made landfall in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, U.S., on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020. Hurricane Laura raked across Louisiana early on Thursday, becoming one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the state with a "catastrophic storm surge," flash floods and devastating winds that could inflict more than $15 billion in insured losses. Photographer: Bryan Tarnowski/Bloomberg via Getty Images